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‘Really Strong Favorite’ Art Collector Draws Post Four Of Full Field For Ellis Park Derby

The field was set Thursday for Sunday's first-ever Kentucky Derby prep staged at Ellis Park, with Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass winner Art Collector heading the thirteen 3-year-old colts and geldings entered in the $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby.

“It's Art Collector and all the rest,” said trainer Tom Amoss, who will try to pull off the upset with Grade 3 Ohio Derby victor Dean Martini. “You've got a really strong favorite in this race, and I think everyone will measure the quality of their horse with how they perform against him.”

The Ellis Park Derby, which was instituted in 2018 as a mile race, anchors a five-stakes program that also includes the $100,000 RUNHAPPY Audubon Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, which offers 10 points to its winner toward qualifying for the Kentucky Oaks; $100,000 Groupie Doll Stakes for older fillies and mares; $100,000 RUNHAPPY Juvenile for 2-year-olds; and $100,000 RUNHAPPY Debutante for 2-year-old fillies.

The 1 1/8-mile Ellis Park Derby carries 50 points to the winner toward qualifying for the COVID-delayed Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5. Also earning qualifying points will be the runner-up (20), third place (10) and fourth (5).

Art Collector drew post 4 as he seeks to go to 4 for 4 since being turned over to trainer Tommy Drury this year. Thanks to the Blue Grass' 100 points, owner-breeder Bruce Lunsford's colt already has enough points to ensure a spot in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field, with Drury using the Ellis Park Derby as a conditioning tool rather than training the eight weeks up to America's most important race.

“His first couple of wins, he just ran off the screen both times, certainly didn't have to overexert himself,” Drury said of Art Collector. “The Blue Grass, he had to earn it; that filly (Swiss Skydiver) made him work for it. Watching that race and evaluating the race afterward, I felt one more was going to be beneficial to him. I'm just really thankful that spot at Ellis is available. We were late getting to the party and we've needed every little thing to fall in place to get him to this point. For Ellis to have a Derby prep this year was a lifesaver to us.”

Other leading contenders include Grade 3 Indiana Derby winner Shared Sense (post 12); Anneau d'Or (post 2), the Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up and most recently fourth in the Santa Anita Derby; Grand Prairie Derby winner Little Menace (post 6), and last year's Ellis Park Juvenile winner Rowdy Yates (post 8).

Shared Sense could be on the Derby qualifying bubble points-wise, collecting 20 for winning the Grade 3 Indiana Derby in his graded-stakes debut. Godolphin's son of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense faced Art Collector two races back, when Art Collector controlled the speed for a dominant win over Shared Sense in a four-horse Churchill Downs allowance field.

“First time we ran against him here, we were at the back of the pack, there was no pace,” said Brad Cox, Shared Sense's trainer. “I was pleased with the effort. They almost broke the track record; the track was quick. Honestly, we were the second-best horse that day. He bounced out of it in good shape. We turned our attention to the Indiana Derby and it worked out extremely well. Obviously the other horse went on to pick off a Grade 2 at Keeneland very impressively. Both horses seem to be going the right way right now, and I'm excited about Sunday.”

Saturday's $1 million, Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga, where Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law looms as the big favorite, also was a possibility for Shared Sense.

“If we're dreaming about the Derby, I think with my horse I would be comfortable trying to get a nice mile-and-an-eighth race into him four weeks before the Derby as opposed to a mile and a quarter at Saratoga,” Cox said. “That's a pretty demanding course, and that's a big ask four weeks before you're hopefully going to run the biggest race of your life.”

Because he wasn't nominated earlier in the year, Godolphin would have to pay $45,000 to make Shared Sense a supplemental nominee to the Kentucky Derby, on top of entry fees.

The same is true for Dean Martini, who was claimed by his owners Raise the BAR Racing out of a $50,000 maiden-claiming race May 17. The gelding actually started his career with a second at Ellis Park but needed seven more attempts to win, albeit while accumulating three seconds and three thirds. Dean Martini won the Ohio Derby in his second start for his new connections.

“We need to know if he can validate his Ohio Derby performance,” Amoss said. “It was a very good race, but is he consistently the kind of horse who can put in those kinds of performances? We need to find out, and we're going to do that on Sunday. Obviously with a horse like Art Collector in there, it will validate one way or the other where we need to head for our next race.”

If the Ellis Park Derby is a first for the racetrack as far as being a Kentucky Derby prep race, count Cox among those hoping that it's also the last.

“Unless we start running at Ellis earlier in the year,” he joked. “I hate to say it, but hopefully it's a one-time thing. I like the Derby in May, not September. “

Still, Cox believes the 2020 running is a great start in entrenching the Ellis Park Derby among the regional Derbys that populate racing after what normally is the Triple Crown.

“West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma — There are a lot of Derbys out there,” he said. “There's definitely a spot on the calendar where Kentucky could have a nice 3-year-old race like the Ellis Park Derby and it become a graded event. Hopefully this is the start of something bigger and better for the Ellis Park Derby.”

RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby
Purse: $200,000. Post time: Sunday at 5:10 p.m. CT (10th race). Distance: 1 1/8 miles. Division: 3-year-olds.
PP horse (weight) trainer/jockey

Trident Hit (118) Brendan Walsh/Corey Lanerie
Anneau d'Or (118) Blaine Wright/Tyler Baze
Sprawl (118) Bill Mott/Julien Leparoux
Art Collector (122) Tommy Drury/Brian Hernandez Jr.
Necker Island (118) Chris Hartman/Mitchell Murrill
Little Menace (120) Steve Asmussen/ Martin Garcia
Truculent (118) Jack Sisterson/Adam Beschizza
Rowdy Yates (118) Steve Asmussen/Shaun Bridgmohan
Dean Martini (122) Tom Amoss/James Graham
Attachment Rate (118) Dale Romans/Joe Talamo
Winning Impressions (118) Dallas Stewart/Joe Rocco
Shared Sense (122) Brad Cox/Florent Geroux
(AE) Rogue Element (118) Dale Romans/Miguel Mena
**(AE) Also eligible – needs scratch to run

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Baffert Breezes Derby Candidates Uncle Chuck, Authentic

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert was a keen observer of workouts by Uncle Chuck and Authentic, two of his many Kentucky Derby prospects, putting in timed breezes at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif.

Uncle Chuck, who'll depart Tuesday for Saratoga and the $1 million Runhappy Travers Stakes next Saturday, covered five furlongs in 1:00.20, co-best of 71 officially timed at the distance.

Clocker Toby Turrell had the son of Uncle Mo going the first half-mile in :49.20 with gallop-outs of 1:12.80 for six furlongs and 1:39.60 for a mile that carried around to the backstretch of the track.

“I'm very happy with the work,” Baffert said. “He's all set now for next week and the big challenge there.”

Authentic went 4 furlongs in :50.20. The Kentucky Derby-bound son of Into Mischief's only loss in five starts came to Honor A.P. in the Santa Anita Derby and he most recently was a wire-to-wire narrow winner of the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

Juan Ochoa, in the irons for both Uncle Chuck and Authentic, had a hold on Authentic throughout.

“Just a little maintenance work,” said Baffert.

Another promising 3-year-old to work was Anneau d'Or, who went five furlongs from the gate in 1:01.60. Anneau d'Or was scratched from today's Shared Belief. Trainer Blaine Wright has expressed intentions to ship east for the Ellis Park Derby.

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‘Give It A Try’: Anyportinastorm Gets His Grade 1 Shot In Bing Crosby

In keeping with the tradition of the racing family into which he was born, Blaine Wright has been a successful trainer for more than 20 years based in Northern California and Washington state.

Wright, who celebrated his 46th birthday on Saturday, is among a group of Northern California conditioners who've sent strings south to Del Mar in recent years, boosting the horse population and adding another factor for handicappers to ponder in races at every level.

Next Saturday, Wright has representatives entered in two of the three stakes on the card: Anyportinastorm in the Grade I, 6-furlong, $250,000 Bing Crosby, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint in November at Keeneland, and Anneau d'Or in the $100,000, 1 1/16-mile Shared Belief Stakes, which offers points toward qualification for a spot in the Kentucky Derby.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has three of the six 3-year-olds entered in the Shared Belief, no surprise considering his annual deep bench of Derby contenders. But it was a surprise Sunday when Baffert entered multi-stakes winning McKinzie in the Crosby.

Wright's reaction: “I'm the kind of guy that those things don't bother me,” he said by telephone Monday. “(Baffert's) got a heck of a stable and obviously he manages it well. I just worry about my own horses and doing what's best for them.”

Anyportinastorm is a 6-year-old owned by Peter Redekop. The son of City Zip has eight wins in 16 career starts, half of them in the last eight months and accomplished in Northern California or Washington, compiling total earnings of $313,025.

“He's been kind of a touchy horse in the past, but he's sound and doing good right now,” Wright said. “When Southern California shippers have come up to Golden Gate Fields or Emerald Downs he's fared well against them. We think it's time to try him against them down there. He's 6 years old and there aren't too many chances in a Grade I for him, so we thought we'd give it a try.”

Wright is inclined to take the “discretion is the better part of valor” approach with Anneau d'Or. The Medaglia d'Or colt, also owned by Redekop and a $480,000 auction purchase in April of last year, raised Kentucky Derby hopes when runner-up to Storm the Court in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November. But he has been off the board in three 2020 starts, all of them Grade I or II stakes.

“I'm 95 percent sure we're going to scratch and go to the Ellis Park Derby,” Wright said of the Shared Belief. “We were supposed to run in the Los Alamitos Derby (July 4), but he came down with something for about 36 hours that had him kind of blah, off his feed and with a small temperature.

“He was fine in a day or so and he had a really good workout (5 furlongs, 1:00.40, 12th of 96 at the distance, July 19). But we're planning on shipping to Kentucky and then staying there up to the Derby.”

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Baffert Double Tough in Los Al Derby

Following a disappointing spring which saw two top Bob Baffert trainees-Nadal (Blame) and Charlatan (Speightstown)-get bounced off the GI Kentucky Derby trail, the horseman emerges with a pair of live contenders in Saturday’s GIII Los Alamitos Derby. The more accomplished of the two is Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm’s Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile), the winner of his first three starts, including last winter’s GII Los Alamitos Futurity and the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. Feb. 1. After fading to fourth behind stablemate Authentic (Into Mischief) in the Mar. 7 GII San Felipe S., the Florida bred faltered at the start of a soggy renewal of the Oaklawn S. Apr. 11 and came home a well-beaten 11^th as the 5-2 favorite. Flavien Prat, who was aboard for all three career wins, reunites with the colt, who sheds the blinkers in this return. Farther back on the experience spectrum, but seemingly not lacking in the talent department is stablemate Uncle Chuck (Uncle Mo). A front-running seven-length winner in his debut going a mile at Santa Anita June 12, the Watson, Pegram and Weitman colt has had a pair of maintenance breezes since that effort, including the most recent a six-furlong move in 1:12.4 June 28 (XBTV). Anneau d’Or (Medaglia d’Oro) showed promise at two, winning his debut at Golden Gates before finishing a close-up second in both the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Los Alamitos Futurity. Off the board in all three starts this seeason, including a fourth in the GI Santa Anita Derby June 6, the Peter Redekop owned colt will try to recapture some of his juvenile form while facing easier company.

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