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Hernandez Seeks Winner’s Circle With New Roo, Carribean Caper At Ellis Park

Colby Hernandez already has blown past his win total of three at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., last summer, his first riding at the Pea Patch. With seven victories heading into Saturday's racing, the younger brother of Ellis Park-meet leading rider Brian Hernandez is making significant headway as a mainstay on the circuit his second year riding in Kentucky after 14 years in his native Louisiana.

The younger Hernandez has two shots in Sunday's five stakes to make a productive meet even better. He is the regular rider of 3-for-3 Carribean Caper, the tepid 9-5 favorite in the $100,000 Audubon Oaks over 2-1 Magic Quest. Both 3-year-old fillies come into the seven-furlong race off impressive allowance victories over the track. Brian Hernandez rides Magic Quest.

Hernandez also rides New Roo, who is 10-1 in the $125,000 RUNHAPPY Groupie Doll for fillies and mares at a mile. Hernandez rode New Roo for the first time last year at Ellis Park when she won an allowance race by 12 lengths, followed by a runner-up finish in the Groupie Doll won by Lady Kate, who also is back in the stakes.

Carribean Caper, trained by Al Stall, has won her three starts by a combined 17 lengths.

“She does it impressive every time,” Hernandez said. “I think every race she gets better and better. Hopefully, everything works out Sunday and we get a good trip and get the money.”

Though she made it look easy with a 4 1/2-length victory over older fillies and mares last time, Carribean Caper didn't have the smoothest of trips until she drew off.

“She had an awkward break, and the outside horses kind of wiped us about a little bit,” Hernandez said. “I had to check her. But after that, I was able to get her in stride. Middle of the turn, all I did was lean forward on her and she gave me whatever she had. It was push-button from there.

“I think she's a really, really nice horse. I don't think we've opened her up yet all the way. Hopefully, she turns into a great mare.”

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New Roo faces a capacity field of 12 in the Groupie Doll. Trainer Tommy Drury, seeking a confidence-builder in her 5-year-old debut after ending 2020 with a couple of disappointing efforts, dropped New Roo in for the $62,500 claiming option in an allowance race at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. She won and wasn't claimed.

“She ran a good race that day,” Hernandez said. “I think at the end she got a little tired because she'd been off. But I think we're in a good spot here. She ran second in the same race last year. Hopefully we can get the money this time. I think she likes this track big-time.

“I feel great about both horses.”

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Carribean Caper Puts Undefeated Stauts On The Line In Audubon Oaks

Carribean Caper has been visually impressive in winning her three starts by open lengths, including a second-level allowance race at Ellis Park by 4 1/2 lengths after being bothered at the start. She makes her stakes debut in Sunday's $100,000 Audubon Oaks. The seven-furlong stakes for 3-year-old fillies last year helped launch Sconsin, now a multiple graded-stakes winner who is Grade 1-placed and training at Ellis Park for Saratoga's Grade 1 Ballerina.

Everything about Carribean Caper has been impressive except her speed figures, which started high in her eight-length debut romp at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans but dropped substantially in both starts since.

“Those numbers are so weird,” said trainer Al Stall. “In our last race, she ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16 and just inhaled those horses after breaking bad. I don't know what all that's about. But anyway, whatever, we'll see. Hopefully numbers do lie.”

Stall took a conservative route with Carribean Caper, running her through her allowance conditions before jumping in a stakes. Colby Hernandez has been aboard throughout.

“She didn't do super well over the winter,” Stall said. “Her race was impressive, but man, she kept growing her coat out. We had to clip her and clip her. Her color wasn't good. After her Keeneland race, I wasn't really happy with her weight and her color. That's the only reason we backed off her.

“Then we were lucky though to find that race early at Ellis. Between Keeneland and Ellis, she really did well. She enjoyed the Kentucky spring, a lot of grazing, like a busman's holiday-type of thing. Didn't leave the barn but got a freshening. She did pick up a lot of weight and has continued to do well ever since. I'm happy with her appearance and all that stuff.”

Stall is hoping the Audubon Oaks catapults Carribean Caper to Churchill Downs' $275,000 Dogwood and Keeneland's Grade 2 Raven Run, all at seven-eighths of a mile and restricted to 3-year-old fillies.

“I'd love her to earn her way into the Dogwood or the Raven Run,” he said. “I'd be thrilled to death. We're just going to kind of keep chipping away and hopefully she runs well and we can say, 'Hey, let's think about a nice race at Churchill and an even better race at Keeneland.'”

Carribean Caper, a daughter of the prominent sire and sprint champion Speightstown, is the first foal of the Dixie Union mare Checkupfromzneckup. Her yearling daughter by Tapit sold for $990,000 at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga sale Monday night.

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Ellis Park’s Aug. 9 Audubon Oaks Added To Churchill’s Road To The Kentucky Oaks

Ellis Park not only has the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby as a qualifying race for the rescheduled Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, the track's $100,000 Audubon Oaks is now a stop on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks. Both stakes races are Sunday Aug. 9.

Ellis Park's 98th annual meet will run from July 2 through August 30.

This year's Ellis Park Derby winner will receive 50 points, virtually ensuring a spot in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby under Churchill Downs' tiered system of qualifying races. Also earning points from the 1 1/8-mile race will be the runner-up (20), third place (10) and fourth (5). The seven-furlong Audubon Oaks, back on the Ellis Park stakes schedule after an 11-year hiatus, will offer a total of 17 points (10-4-2-1) for the top four finishers toward making the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks' 14-filly field.

“We cannot thank Churchill Downs enough for including the Audubon Oaks as one of its additions to the Kentucky Oaks points races,” said Ellis Park general manager Jeff Inman. “This is a huge and obviously historic opportunity for Ellis Park to have official prep races for the Derby and Oaks. We decided to bring the Audubon Oaks back off the shelf this year and being on the Kentucky Oaks schedule is a great way to welcome it back.

“We assume we will get horses trying to secure a spot in the Derby or Oaks, in addition we think our stakes are also positioned perfectly for horses who already have qualified but could benefit from a tune-up four weeks out. Trainers can stay put in Kentucky from now through the Derby and beyond, with the Breeders' Cup being at Keeneland this year. We're an easy ship from Churchill Downs, Keeneland and the state's training centers. With one of the best racing surfaces in the country, Ellis Park offers a convenient way to get in that final prep without the stress of significant travel.”

The Ellis Park Derby falls four weeks after Keeneland's Toyota Blue Grass and 4 1/2 weeks after Indiana Grand's Indiana Derby. The Audubon Oaks offers similar spacing from Keeneland's Ashland Stakes and Beaumont, as well as the Indiana Oaks.

Ellis Park has a tie to the past two winners of the Kentucky Oaks, with 2019 winner Serengeti Empress taking the 2018 Ellis Park Debutante and 2018 heroine Monomoy Girl training all summer at Ellis before launching her 2-year-old career.

The Ellis Park Derby could be a stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for Lloyd Madison Farms' Major Fed, whose next start will be either the Blue Grass or the Indiana Derby, said trainer Greg Foley, who added that the Audubon Oaks could be a good fit for his filly Sconsin, a recent Churchill Downs allowance winner at 19-1 odds.

“I think it will be great for Ellis Park,” said the Louisville-based Foley. “Those people down there, they love that racing. It's sure coming in handy for them, the weird year we having. There will be people showing up for those points, and it's a great, safe racetrack. Those will probably come up pretty tough races.”

Brad Cox, a two-time leading trainer at Ellis Park, is among those welcoming the additions. Cox said that Godolphin Racing's Shared Sense, who finished second in a second-level allowance race June 13, and Rupp Racing's recently gelded Shake Some Action could be candidates for the Ellis Park Derby. Flurry Racing Stables' Shedaresthedevil, an impressive Churchill Downs allowance winner on June 5, could be a possibility for the Audubon Oaks, he said.

“It's good money,” Cox said of the Ellis Park Derby. “It's an opportunity they're giving us, and I'm hoping to have something for it.”

Owner Chester Thomas of Madisonville also hopes to participate in the Ellis Park Derby at what he considers his hometown track. One possibility could be the Bret Calhoun-trained Mr. Big News, winner of the April 11 Oaklawn Stakes at 46-1 odds in his last start.

“As someone who has been going to Ellis Park my entire life, I'm unbelievably excited about the track having a Kentucky Derby prep — although I'm hoping these are once-in-a-lifetime circumstances and we never have to deal with a coronavirus again,” said Thomas, a two-time Ellis Park leading owner. “But it's a great opportunity to have Derby contenders coming to Ellis Park, and hopefully we can have something in the Ellis Park Derby starting gate and, even better, in the winner's circle.”

Ellis Park 2020 stakes

July 5 — $50,000 Ellis Park Turf Stakes, fillies & mares 3 years old & up, 1 1/16 miles (turf).
July 26 — $50,000 Good Lord Stakes, 3-year-olds & up, 6 1/2 furlongs.
Aug. 2 (all on turf) — $100,000* Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Sprint, fillies & mares 3 years old & up, 5 1/2 furlongs; $100,000* Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup, 3-year-olds & up, 1 1/4 miles; $100,000* Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Turf, fillies & mares 3 years old &up, mile); $100,000* Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint, 3-year-olds & up, 5 1/2 furlongs; $100,000* Kentucky Downs Preview Tourist Mile, 3-year-olds & up, mile.
Aug. 9 — $200,000* Ellis Park Derby, 3-year-olds; 1 1/8 miles; $100,000* Audubon Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs; $100,000* Ellis Park Juvenile, 2-year-olds, 7 furlongs; $100,000* Ellis Park Debutante, 7 furlongs.
*-includes $25,000 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund

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