Lush Lips to return in Ellis Park Turf

Lush Lips, scratched as the morning-line favorite for the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes on April 11 at Keeneland, will make her first start since Feb. 28 in the Ellis Park Turf Stakes on Aug. 23.

“That’s a good spot. I don’t really want to throw her to the wolves at Saratoga. It looks like a perfect spot where she’s ready for Keeneland,” trainer Brendan Walsh said, referring to the Grade 1 First Lady on Oct. 3.

Lush Lips improved steadily through her 3-year-old season and captured the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup in October 2025. She won her third straight with a powerful surge in the Honey Fox nearly half a year ago, running right past Classic Q, who subsequently won the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile and the Grade 1 Just a Game.

Lush Lips went out with an unspecified issue but never left the racetrack, Walsh said.

The Walsh-trained Expensive Queen finished in a dead heat for first in the Jenny Wiley, but she, too, missed the heart of the turf season with an injury. Expensive Queen is in steady training and should breeze sometime this month, Walsh said.

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