Lady Kate faces pace pressure in defense of Groupie Doll

A terrific undercard led by the 40th running of the Groupie Doll surrounds the Ellis Park Derby on Sunday, when the final five stakes of the summer meet will be run at the western Kentucky track.

The $125,000 Groupie Doll clearly is the deepest of the nine-race card. Its oversubscribed field of fillies and mares will be limited to 12 starters, with Dreamalildreamofu, Josie, Lady Kate, and Istan Council being among a core of lukewarm favorites.

Here follows a rundown of all the supporting features at Ellis, which runs its 31-day meet through Sept. 4. All five stakes will be run on what is expected to be a fast main track.

Groupie Doll (race 8)

Dreamalildreamofu and Josie both enter in fine form for the meet’s leading trainer, Brad Cox, and both bring similar stalking styles into a one-mile race that has plenty of speed signed on. Thirteen are entered, with a third Cox filly, Lady Rocket, stretching out from a series of shorter races, and a fourth, Matera, being the lone also-eligible.

Lady Kate, when on her game, is a tenacious front-runner, but the Bernardini mare not only would need to fight off all the other speed, but also get back to the form that carried her to a gate-to-wire score in the 2020 Groupie Doll for Eddie Kenneally. If there’s an up-front meltdown involving Jungle Juice, Recoded, and maybe a couple of the Cox fillies, then Istan Council, Sally’s Curlin, or even High Regard would stand the best chance at capitalizing late.

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Sally’s Curlin, trained by Dale Romans, is a two-time Grade 3 winner with earnings of $452,276, highest in the field. She’s been working swiftly in recent weeks since going unraced for nearly four months.

“We gave her a little freshener and she’s come back better than ever,” Romans said.

The Groupie Doll dates to 1982, and although it lost its Grade 3 ranking ahead of the 2019 renewal, it still has been the only graded race in track history. It is run out of the elbow chute adjacent to the clubhouse, making it an unofficial “one-and-a-half-turn” mile.

Buff Bradley, who saddled two-time Eclipse champion Groupie Doll to win the race in 2011, when it was still known as the Gardenia, will be on hand to present the winner’s trophy. Bradley retired in June from a 28-year training career.

Audubon Oaks (race 5)

Carribean Caper, carefully managed to date by Al Stall Jr., will ship in from the Trackside training center in Louisville when she risks her perfect record while making her stakes debut in this $100,000 race for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs.

Carribean Caper has won her three previous starts by a combined 17 lengths and surely will come a solid favorite in a field of seven when ridden again by Colby Hernandez. Magic Quest, Minute Waltz, and Malloy appear to have the best chances at dealing her a first defeat.

Ellis Juvenile (race 4)

Costa Terra is a slight morning-line favorite in a field of seven 2-year-old colts in this $125,000 race at seven furlongs after getting up in the last jump to win his only prior start last month in the Ellis slop. Ricardo Santana Jr. will be in from Saratoga to ride for his main benefactor, Steve Asmussen.

Candy Landing, Lucky Boss, and Roger McQueen are other logical plays in a competitive field.

Ellis Debutante (race 3)

Trainer Randy Morse has been bullish for months on Verylittlecents, a Goldencents filly who heads the lineup for the $125,000 Debutante at seven furlongs. Verylittlecents earned a 70 Beyer Speed Figure in dominating a July 11 maiden race and will have Joe Talamo back aboard when looking to build on that effort versus six other 2-year-old fillies.

Brown vacates Ellis stalls

The stable of horses that Chad Brown had in Kentucky since early April have been reassimilated back East after the four-time Eclipse champion trainer vacated his Ellis stalls about two weeks ago.

About 14 horses overseen by longtime assistant Whit Beckman at Ellis were shipped out to New York, where Brown has his primary base. Brown had expanded his stable to Kentucky for non-winter months last year, with Beckman as his point man. At Ellis, Brown went 0 for 2 last year, then winless with his first eight starters this summer before Perjury Trap won a July 31 turf allowance as his final starter.

Brown still intends to run horses at Kentucky Downs and Keeneland this fall, mostly on turf. Churchill Downs will have no turf racing for the rest of 2021 because of the ongoing turf course renovation.

Meanwhile, Beckman, who had worked for Brown since April 2016, has resigned his position in what he said was “the most agreeable split possible.” Beckman is currently living in Louisville with his young daughter and said he is likely to return to racing in the near future.

◗ Churchill Downs will set up a basketball court for the University of Louisville men’s and women’s squads in its spacious plaza adjacent to the paddock during the Sept. 18 night racing card. The school has made a tradition of taking its “Louisville Live” to various local venues to tip off its practice season. Churchill will run a 12-day meet from Sept. 16 to Oct. 3.