Wilkes doubles his pleasure in Ellis Park Turf

Ian Wilkes stood a decent shot on Sunday of winning the first stakes of the Ellis Park meet with Bonnie Arch, but the trainer thought he’d double his chances by supplementing a second mare.

Wilkes also will be represented by Burma Road when the $50,000 Ellis Park Turf Stakes is run for the 14th time Sunday at the western Kentucky track. The uncoupled Wilkes duo is among eight fillies and mares in the 1 1/16-mile fixture.

Burma Road, said Wilkes, is “running back a little quick, but I’m happy with the way she came out of her last race.”

“It’s a smaller field, so we thought we’d take a shot and try to get her a little black type,” he said.

Burma Road was sixth in the June 23 Lady Canterbury in Minnesota, which followed a sublime victory under Calvin Borel in a May 12 turf allowance at Churchill Downs. Borel will be back aboard when the 5-year-old mare breaks from post 7 in the Ellis Turf, the eighth of nine Sunday races. Burma Road, bred and owned by Lantern Hill Farm, was supplemented for a $2,500 fee, whereas the cost to all other owners to start is $500.

Right alongside in post 8 will be the other Wilkes mare, Bonnie Arch, who will be ridden back by Chris Landeros following a June 14 triumph over the Churchill turf.

“She ran good last time,” said Wilkes. “Her biggest downfall is before the race. If she can keep herself together beforehand, she should run well again.”

This is a very busy time for Wilkes. He traveled Thursday from his Louisville base to Prairie Meadows in Iowa to saddle a trio of stakes runners the next evening, most notably McCraken in the Grade 3 Cornhusker. He then was to be in the Chicago suburbs to run Nessy in the Stars and Stripes at Arlington Park on Saturday, then in Lexington, Ky., on Sunday, ahead of the Fasig-Tipton sales. Jason Barkley will saddle his Ellis runners Sunday.

Other considerations in the Ellis Turf include Youngest Daughter (post 5, James Graham), an ungraded stakes winner for the Humphrey family; May Lily (post 3, Gabriel Saez), defeated just a half-length by Bonnie Arch in the Churchill allowance; and Dubara (post 1, Adam Beschizza), the wild card of the group who gets first-time Lasix in her North American debut.

The Ellis Turf is the first of 10 stakes at the 30-day Ellis meet, which runs through Sept. 3. All 10 stakes will be run on a Sunday, including the meet highlight, the Grade 3 Groupie Doll on Aug. 12. Last year, the Ellis Turf was held on a Saturday. Burma Road finished fourth, beaten just 1 1/2 lengths by the victorious Inveniam Viam.

First post Sunday is 12:50 p.m. Central, with the Ellis Turf going at 4:10. After Sunday, the track goes dark for four days before live action resumes Friday.

Ellis canceled after the first two races Thursday because of extreme heat, but it had cooled considerably by Friday. The Sunday forecast calls for a high of 84 and a chance of thundershowers.