Market Rumor makes Ellis Park Turf first stakes triumph

Market Rumor notched her first career stakes victory Sunday when coming through as the favorite by wearing down stablemate Undisturbed in the 18th running of the $75,000 Ellis Park Turf.

The top two finishers in the 1 1/16-mile turf race are trained by Ian Wilkes, with Market Rumor rallying from sixth in a field of seven fillies and mares to defeat Undisturbed, the race-long front-runner, by a half-length.

Market Rumor, a 5-year-old Afleet Alex mare, was bred and is owned by Randy Bloch and Partners. She finished in 1:43.42 over a yielding course and paid $4.52 to win under the new penny-breakage policy that went into effect Friday for all Kentucky tracks.

Chris Landeros, Wilkes’s son-in-law, was aboard Market Rumor, now a winner in five of 20 starts.

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“You don’t want to get in a hurry with her, but you also don’t want to take anything away from her,” Landeros said. “She’s as cool as they come. She’s actually grown up a lot, kind of like a true turf horse. When she was younger, on the dirt, she was a little keen and wanting to be in contention early. She’s showing me other tactics now. She’s pretty versatile and I let her tell me what I need to do.”

Undisturbed, the 3-1 second choice under Florent Geroux, was 3 1/2 lengths clear of Demodog in third, with Fair Game another 2 1/2 lengths back in fourth.

The $2 exacta (4-1) paid $13.42, the $1 trifecta (4-1-8) returned $30.60, and the 10-cent superfecta (4-1-8-2) was worth $8.60.

Because of wet conditions at Ellis in western Kentucky, all other Sunday races originally slated for turf were transferred to a sloppy main track.

Ellis now goes dark for four days before another three-day weekend begins Friday. The 23-day summer meet runs through Aug. 28, with the biggest dates being Aug. 7 and 14.