Will Call dies of apparent heart attack

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Will Call, a graded stakes winner who earned $354,911 in 17 starts, all for owner-breeder Richard Klein, died of an apparent heart attack shortly after finishing 11th in the ninth race at Churchill on Saturday, closing day of the 38-day spring meet.

“He was our first winner, first stakes winner, and first graded winner for our sire Country Day,” said Klein. “I co-bred him with my dad. His death had nothing to do with the racetrack or anything like that. Just one of those things that happens.”

Will Call, trained by Brad Cox, won six of his first 10 starts, including a victory in the Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on the 2018 Kentucky Oaks undercard. His form had slumped somewhat in recent months, however, and Klein said the 5-year-old horse was headed to retirement at Forest Lane Farm if he didn’t run well Saturday.

“I was going to send him to Charlie and Amy LoPresti to live out his days,” said Klein. “This one really stings.”

Miller finally gets hot

Peter Miller, one of a handful of Southern California-based trainers who this spring sent a string of runners to Kentucky for the first time, went on a tear the last couple of weeks after getting away to a slow start.

Miller went 1 for 30 to begin the Churchill spring meet before winning with five of his last eight starters, including a pair of closing-day races, the Kelly’s Landing with Line Judge and a turf-sprint allowance with Om. For good measure, Miller won with his first-ever starter at Ellis Park when Surrender Now easily captured a turf-sprint allowance Sunday, opening day of the 29-day summer meet at the western Kentucky track.

Rare 4-day week at Ellis

Ellis will normally host racing three days a week (Friday through Sunday) but will race this Thursday because of the Fourth of July holiday.

The highlights of an eight-race card that starts at 12:50 p.m. Central are two allowances. The richest of the pair is race 7, a $52,000 second-level turf route in which another Southern California trainer, Jeff Mullins, has a major contender in Sellwood. The race is oversubscribed, with only as many as 10 horses permitted to start.

The first of 11 stakes at the meet, the $75,000 Ellis Park Turf, is set for Sunday.