Princess Warrior puts end to losing streak

Princess Warrior was a sharp winner on turf last Saturday at Ellis Park, snapping an eight-race losing streak and opening new doors.

An eye-catching winner of her debut at 2 last September in a main-track maiden sprint at Churchill, Princess Warrior was second as the favorite in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland in her second start. Her form tailed off from there, and it wasn’t until she made her second attempt on turf Saturday that she finally returned to the winner’s circle. Corey Lanerie was aboard for trainer Kenny McPeek in a half-length triumph that graded out to a 72 Beyer.

McPeek said the Sept. 9 Dueling Grounds Oaks at turf-only Kentucky Downs is next for Princess Warrior, a Midshipman filly owned by the Trommer family.

◗ An eight-race card Friday at Ellis Park lacks so much as one allowance. Some fans might find Saturday a little more appealing, with two allowances (races 5 and 8) spotted on a nine-race card. First post daily is 12:50 p.m. Central.

The next Ellis stakes are the four $100,000 previews toward the Kentucky Downs meet on Aug. 5.

◗ With 12 of 30 summer programs in the books, apprentice rider Edgar Morales (15 wins) and trainer Brad Cox (eight wins) are tops in their respective categories. Morales, who has had a meet-high 72 mounts into Friday, is bidding to become the first apprentice to be the leading jockey at a Kentucky track since the late Juan Saez rode 51 winners at Ellis in 2014.

◗ Jenn Patterson, who worked with such standouts as Orb and Wise Dan as an assistant and exercise rider for Shug McGaughey and Charlie LoPresti prior to launching her own training career in May, saddled her first winner when Sports Story captured a July 19 maiden-special sprint on the Belterra Park turf. The breakthrough came in the fifth start for Patterson, a Wilmington, Del., native based at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.