Churchill Downs | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘We’ll Let The Horse Take Us Along’: Art Collector Could Use Ellis Park Derby As Springboard To Roses

If Keeneland's Toyota Blue Grass Stakes winner Art Collector races again before the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, it will be in the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9 at Ellis Park.

Trainer Tom Drury said that Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector could run in the 1 1/8-mile Ellis Park Derby as a tightener if a streak hot weather would make him ease up in the colt's training. Art Collector secured a spot in the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby after picking up 100,000 qualifying points for winning last Saturday's Grade 2, $600,000 Blue Grass by 3 1/2 lengths over the filly Swiss Skydiver. Ellis Park regular Brian Hernandez Jr. is Art Collector's jockey.

“No. 1, I'm just sure thankful that race is there,” Drury said of the Ellis Park Derby. “Ellis, I know they had to work hard to have their meet this year. To keep a race like that really helps us, keeps us from having to travel if we decide to go there. If I knew it was going to be 65 degrees every morning and I could train him exactly the way I wanted, I would probably say we're just going to train up to the Derby.

“But the first part of August, it could be crazy kind of weather. If that's the case, do you really want to be cranking on your horse (on a daily basis)? So I'm glad to know that race is there. I've met with Bruce and we've discussed it and decided we'll let the horse take us along; we're not going to take him. If we feel he needs another race, that is the only spot that's even in consideration. If we feel we don't need another race, we'll just train up to the big dance.”

The Ellis Park Derby marks a historic occurrence in track history, with Ellis Park only in position to have a Kentucky Derby prep because of the coronavirus-forced delay of the Churchill Downs classic. The Ellis Park Derby winner will receive 50 qualifying points — which should guarantee a spot in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby — but that's not a consideration for Drury.

“We're in a good spot now,” Drury said. “Before the Blue Grass, it was a little nerve-wracking. Because that was an all-or-nothing deal. Now that we got over that hurdle, it's almost like you can exhale a little bit. Now your whole thought process is on your horse. It's not on getting points to get there, or any of the other things going on around you. It's just focusing on the horse and doing what's right for him. You're not even thinking about the (Ellis Park Derby) purse.

“In all honesty, you don't even have to win that race. If you need that race as a tightener, it's there for you. If you don't, you don't. The good news is that everything seems to be in order at this point. He came out of the Blue Grass in good order and he's a happy horse. And usually that's a big part of being successful, having a horse that's on his game and happy and enjoying what he's doing.”

Another prominent horse under consideration for the Ellis Park Derby is Godolphin's Brad Cox-trained Shared Sense, who picked up 20 points toward Kentucky Derby qualifying in winning Indiana Grand's Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby under Florent Geroux last week.

“The Ellis Park Derby is on the discussion table,” Darley America president Jimmy Bell, whose team also oversees Godolphin's American racing operation, said in an email response to an inquiry. “We obviously have some other options that we are considering as well. A little more time and we'll have a better idea as to which direction we're headed.”

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‘So Great To See Her Back’: La Troienne Likely Next For Returning Champion Monomoy Girl

Michael Dubb, Monomoy Stables, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables' Monomoy Girl returned to graded stakes-winning form on Saturday with a two-length triumph in the Grade 2 Ruffian at Belmont Park, earning a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure.

Owner Sol Kumin of Monomoy Stables said he was pleased with the winning effort.

“It was so great to see her back,” Kumin said. “She had been training so well going into the race and this was just so exciting to see.”

Monomoy Girl will look to build on Saturday's victory with a possible start in the Grade 1 La Troienne on September 4 at Churchill Downs going 1 1/16 miles.

Trained by Brad Cox, Monomoy Girl was crowned Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in 2018, winning five Grade 1 races including the Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks on the NYRA circuit en route to a triumph against elders in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs.

The 5-year-old Tapizar chestnut did not race at age 4 and was sent to WinStar Farm last spring after a mild case of colic and suffered an injury to her hamstring last fall when preparing for a potential comeback.

Prior to her Ruffian score, Monomoy Girl bested an optional claiming field over a sloppy main track going a one-turn mile at Churchill Downs by 2 ¾ lengths.

“Most likely she'll come back in the La Troienne,” Kumin said. “It's a good distance, there's good spacing between her races, and it's at Churchill Downs which is right at her front door. We'll discuss it further with the rest of the partners, but more than likely that's where you'll see her.”

Kumin is also a part owner of reigning Champion Older Filly Midnight Bisou as well as dual Grade 1 winner She's a Julie.

“Obviously the day is going to come where they'll have to face each other, but we'll keep them separate for the time being. I'm just very lucky to be involved with such great fillies. This is what the game is all about,” Kumin said.

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Options Open for Art Collector

Bruce Lunsford’s GII Toyota Blue Grass S. winner Art Collector (Bernardini) returned to trainer Tom Drury’s Skylight Training Center base in Goshen, Kentucky Saturday night and options for the colt’s next start are still open.

“I am going to get with Bruce in the next couple of days and figure out what we will do,” Drury said. “Art Collector will stay at Skylight for a little while because it is quieter there and then like we have done before, two weeks or so before he runs we will bring him back to Churchill.”

With the Blue Grass victory, Art Collector picked up 100 qualifying points toward the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby, good for fourth place on the Derby leader board with only six points races remaining.

“If we do anything [before the Derby], it likely would be Ellis [the Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9],” Drury said.

Art Collector gave Drury his first graded stakes victory with his authoritative score at Keeneland Saturday, but the trainer didn’t have much time to celebrate.

“It was a pretty special day,” Drury said Sunday morning. “You know how we horse trainers are. I had to get him back to Skylight last night and I had to be at Churchill Downs at 5:30 [this morning] for the first set. I wound up having a frozen pizza and a cold beer.”

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Madaket Stables’ Speech (Mr Speaker), along with stablemate and Blue Grass third-place finisher Rushie (Liam’s Map), is scheduled to ship back to California Monday following her victory in Saturday’s GI Central Bank Ashland S.

“Justin Curran was deputizing on my behalf and was very pleased with them this morning,” trainer Mike McCarthy said of the duo via text Sunday. “Most likely both will have a few works here at Del Mar before deciding on a Churchill Downs arrival date.”

Rushie is not Triple Crown nominated, and plans are uncertain for the colt, who has picked up 40 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for the Run for the Roses.

“Nothing is set in stone for Rushie,” McCarthy said. “There are plenty of options.”

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Remembering Harriet Sue, The First Filly To Contest The Blue Grass Stakes

Peter Callahan's multiple graded stakes winner Swiss Skydiver is the first filly to race in Keeneland's most famous race, the Toyota Blue Grass (G2), since 1944 – long before corporate sponsorship entered Thoroughbred racing but a year similar to 2020 because of adjustments to Keeneland's Spring Meet.

That first Blue Grass filly was Harriet Sue, a daughter of the legendary Bull Lea who was bred and owned by Hyman Friedberg of Louisville.

The 1944 Blue Grass was part of Keeneland's Spring Meet, which in 1943-1945 was held at Churchill Downs because of World War II. In March 1943, Keeneland had been deemed a “suburban” plant and placed in the classification of race tracks that were asked not to operate because of shortages in rubber. The Keeneland Association leased the Churchill facilities for the three spring seasons. No Keeneland Fall Meets were held during that time.

Scheduling of the day allowed Harriet Sue to run in both the 1944 Ashland and Blue Grass, which since 2014 have been held the same day.

On April 10, Harriet Sue defeated four rivals in the $5,000-added Ashland and recorded an impressive victory for trainer John Hanover and jockey Jesse Higley.

According to Louisville's Courier-Journal (thanks to research provided by the Keeneland Library), “Bet confidently and ridden confidently, the speedy Harriet Sue didn't betray the confidence of Jockey Jess Higley or the faith of most of the bettors in the gathering of 7,000 race fans at Churchill Downs Wednesday afternoon. 'Sue' pulled away from four other fillies to capture the seventh running of Keeneland's Ashland Stakes by three and one-half lengths.”

That performance led some Turf writers and Harriet Sue's connections to speculate about the filly competing in the Kentucky Derby – something that had not occurred since 1936.

Harriet Sue returned 16 days later to face males in the $10,000-added Blue Grass. She led her seven rivals for most of the race and “gave way near the end,” according to the chart. She finished fifth behind winner Skytracer. He and four other Blue Grass rivals next competed in the Kentucky Derby, but Harriet Sue returned to the filly division. Favored in the Kentucky Oaks, she finished second, 1½ lengths behind Abe Hirschberg's Canina.

In July of that year, Harriet Sue captured the Arlington Matron at Washington Park. By the time she retired, she had made 80 starts with 19 wins and earnings of $64,175.

In 1949, her stakes-winning full sister, The Fat Lady, was second to Calumet Farm's Wistful in the Kentucky Oaks. Wistful would be the year's champion 3-year-old filly.

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