Logjam atop jockey standings

The jockeys’ race at Ellis Park couldn’t get much tighter. With 17 of the 30 summer programs in the books, six riders are within three wins of the lead.

When another three-day weekend begins Friday at the western Kentucky track, Didiel Osorio will have the lead – but barely. Osorio, who won the Ellis riding title last summer, has ridden 14 winners at a meet that began July 2, followed in close order by Robby Albarado (13), Jimmy Graham (13), Brian Hernandez Jr. (13), Corey Lanerie (12), and Miguel Mena (11).

Among those leaders, Osorio has had the most mounts (103), while Hernandez has had the fewest (43). Many of the top Kentucky riders are using Ellis as their primary base for the summer while occasionally leaving to ride elsewhere on big stakes days, such as the West Virginia Derby card last Saturday at Mountaineer Park and the Arlington Million card this coming Saturday.

Among trainers, Steve Asmussen is dominating with 12 wins. This is the first time Asmussen actually has had an on-site stable – as opposed to shipping on race days from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. The local string is headed by assistant Christy Hamilton.

The Ellis meet runs through Labor Day, Sept. 5. An additional date, Sept. 1, has been added to the racing calendar to replace one cancellation (July 4). There will be no racing Sept. 3, when Kentucky Downs will open its five-day meet.

Profitable decision

Innovative Idea, the winner of the $100,000 Groupie Doll Stakes last weekend at Ellis under Marlon St. Julien, came very close to being retired in late March. Instead, the 4-year-old filly was kept in training by Godolphin.

“She was literally getting on the van” to go to the breeding shed, trainer Eoin Harty told Ellis publicity. “That’s how close it was.”

Harty said he was attending a spring-training baseball game in Phoenix when he got a call from Godolphin president Jimmy Bell.

“We talked briefly, and he said, ‘What do you think?’ ” said Harty. “I said, ‘Whatever your decision is, make up your mind quickly.’ The rest is history.”

The Grade 3 Groupie Doll is the only graded race every year at Ellis.

Innovative Idea is back at Arlington Park with Harty, with a next race still to be decided.

◗ The Churchill Downs Racing Club will be back in action this weekend on two fronts. The club will have Warrior’s Club in a maiden race at Ellis on Friday and Dial Me in the Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday. Both 2-year-olds are trained by D. Wayne Lukas and are owned by a partnership comprising 200 members who paid $500 each to become Thoroughbred owners.

◗ Jockey Francisco Torres escaped serious injury Sunday at Ellis in a scary gate incident prior to the fifth race. Torres was taken to a local hospital complaining of neck pain, but X-rays and diagnostic tests were negative. Torres, a winner of 3,116 races in a career that began in 1986, took off scheduled mounts earlier in the week at Indiana Grand but is expected to be back in action Friday at Ellis.

◗ Corey Lanerie was part of the winning twosome Monday in Louisville in the Cowgill-Valvano Wild Eggs Scramble Fore Cancer, a charity golf tournament that benefits cancer research for the V Foundation. Lanerie long has listed golf as among his main passions.

◗ The lone allowance on an eight-race Friday card at Ellis is the finale. It’s a $39,000, first-level turf mile that drew an oversubscribed field of fillies and mares. First post daily at Ellis is 12:50 p.m. Central.