Boston-raised, Florida-based trainer Bobby Dibona had never before raced a horse at Ellis Park. But he had a memorable day Sunday, winning the $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby with Steal Sunshine.
Dibona's first Ellis Park starter actually was Tap'er Light, who finished third at 23-1 in the RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Debutante, one of five stakes Sunday. Steal Sunshine followed with a 3 1/4-length triumph over the pacesetting 57-1 shot Rome, rallying from last in the field of nine 3-year-olds. He paid $13.98 to win after covering the mile in 1:38.19.
Steal Sunshine had never raced outside of Gulfstream Park. But the son of the WinStar Farm stallion Constitution returned to his birth state to capture his second stakes in a row under jockey Leonel Reyes, following Gulfstream's $75,000 Carry Back.
Dibona said his only prior time at Ellis Park came around 30 years ago when, as a young trainer starting out in his hometown of Boston, he came to the track called the Pea Patch to claim a horse. Semi-jokingly, he quipped that he'd never before seen soybeans, Ellis Park's infield cash crop.
“It reminds me of being in the Field of Dreams,” he said, referring to the 1989 baseball movie starring Kevin Costner. “I think this is a field of dreams right now. So happy. I don't think you can even say enough. He's got such an explosive run. It doesn't matter what they're doing early. He just waits, and when he gets rolling, he gets rolling.”
Said breeder and co-owner Carrie Brogden, of Machmer Hall Farm in Paris, Ky.: “Crazy. It's beyond my wildest dreams…. I'm like 'margarita!'”
Steal Sunshine, who is co-owned by Little Red Feather Racing, is now 4 for 9, with a second and a third, earning $233,910 after his third straight victory.
Asked what might be next, Brogden said, “I have laid my head down at night and dreamed of being in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Now, it's just a dream, but we all have it…. We'll see what the next stepping stone is. I think the Pennsylvania Derby might come up a little, like talk about facing the bears of all bears. But he's certainly proved he might belong.”
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