Shedaresthedevil headed west for Clement Hirsch

Following one more workout scheduled for the coming weekend at Ellis Park, the star filly Shedaresthedevil will be flown to California for her next start in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch, to be run Aug. 1 at Del Mar.

Staton Flurry, whose Flurry Racing Stables owns Shedaresthedevil in partnership with Qatar Racing and Autry Lowry Jr., said a July 28 flight has been booked for Shedaresthedevil, the 2020 Kentucky Oaks winner whose most recent start resulted in a third-place finish behind the filly-mare division leader Letruska in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on the June 5 Belmont Stakes card.

With the Churchill Downs barn area shuttered during a turf-course renovation, Shedaresthedevil has been stabled in recent weeks at Ellis in western Kentucky, where assistant Jorgito Abrego has been overseeing her training in the absence of trainer Brad Cox, who is spending most of the summer with his main string at Saratoga. Shedaresthedevil has had three drills at Ellis, with the latest being a five-furlong breeze Sunday in 1:00.40.

Given how thin the top echelon of the filly-mare ranks in California appears to be, Shedaresthedevil could be favored in the 1 1/16-mile Clement Hirsch, a Win and You’re In qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, which will be run Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

Aside from her breakthrough triumph in the Oaks last September, Shedaresthedevil has won four other graded stakes from 14 overall starts, including the Grade 2 Azeri at Oaklawn and the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill this year at 4.

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Purses high, field size low

With no stakes scheduled at Ellis until a series of Kentucky Downs previews are run Aug. 7-8, allowances will serve as program highlights as the 31-day summer meet continues to unfold.

Two allowances (races 6 and 7) with $52,000 purses are the anchors of an eight-race Friday card, while two allowances (races 4 and 8) also will be co-featured on a nine-race Saturday program. First post every day is 12:50 p.m. Central.

Saturday will mark the first card with more than eight races at a meet that began June 27. Although purse levels are at an all-time high in track history – 2-year-old maiden-specials in the $50,000 range have been the most plentiful – the Ellis racing office has had difficulty in filling races in a number of different categories, including throughout the claiming ranks.

The result has been an average field size of 6.53 horses per race, the lowest such number since Daily Racing Form began maintaining the statistic in 1991. Off-the-turf races shifted to the main track with numerous scratches have contributed to that relatively low figure, as has competition for horse flesh from other regional tracks such as Indiana Grand, Arlington Park, and Belterra Park.

Bango continues on a roll

The red-hot local sprinter Bango earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure when notching his third straight stakes victory Saturday in the $75,000 Good Lord at Ellis. The five-length triumph followed the Aristides and Kelly’s Landing at Churchill.

“I think he’s one of the best sprinters going right now,” said Greg Foley, who trains 4-year-old Bango for the Tamaroak Stables of Fred and Debbie Schwartz. “We might have to look at the Breeders’ Cup” Sprint, set for Nov. 6 at Del Mar.