ellis park | Horse Racing Free Tips

Amoss Hopes Sermononthemount Will ‘Really Show What He Can Do’ In Ellis Park Derby

Trainer Tom Amoss finds a different scenario facing Sermononthemount in running Emil Cerullo's 3-year-old colt in Sunday's $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby than what awaited him in last month's Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand.

The Grade 3 Indiana Derby had a heavy favorite in Churchill Downs' Matt Winn winner Fulsome. But the time-honored racing tenet is that you don't run away from one horse. Indeed, Sermononthemount finished second at 18-1 as Mr. Wireless rolled to victory in the 1 1/16-mile stakes. Fulsome finished a non-threatening third.

The 1 1/8-mile Ellis Park Derby would not appear to have a prohibitive favorite in its field of six 3-year-olds. While Super Stock won the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, he also finished fourth in the Texas Derby and Iowa Derby following a 16th in the Kentucky Derby. Also entered: Indiana Derby fourth-place finisher Starrininmydreams, Ellis Park allowance winner Colonel Bowman, allowance runner-up (by a nose) There Goes Harvard and Ellis maiden-winner Hanks.

The Ellis Park Derby is part of a five-stakes Sunday card that also features the $125,000 RUNHAPPY Groupie Doll for fillies and mares, $125,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Juvenile, $125,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Debutante and $100,000 Audubon Oaks.

“He's a horse that wants some pace up front and be allowed to finish. And we really didn't get that in the Indiana Derby,” Amoss said. “He's also a horse, in my opinion, that would rather come around than go inside. He kind of likes to have one of those trips where he's not crowded in any shape or form, and he didn't get that either. But he still ran well. The Ellis Park Derby is a logical race for us because No. 1, it's right there. It's very attractive purse-wise, and I like the distance.”

The Indiana Derby “was a race on paper that I thought was worth rolling the dice,” he said. “I think that's kind of what's happening again… I see a field in the Ellis Park Derby with a lot of horses that are up and coming and improving, but certainly no horse in there that would scare another one out.”

James Graham has the return mount on Sermononthemount. Graham turned out to be prescient when he said this before the Indiana Derby: “He tries his butt off every time, so you have to take a little bit of a shot — and he's doing good. What if Fulsome has a bad day? And hopefully we have a good day. Give it a shot and see what happens.”

Mr. Wireless validated his Indiana Derby victory by taking last Saturday's Grade 3 West Virginia Derby.

“He showed he is legit by the results of the West Virginia Derby,” Amoss said. “So that's nice, too.”

Sermononthemount didn't run well on turf when claimed for $50,000 at the Fair Grounds in March. Two races later, Amoss put him in for a $30,000 claiming race as a confidence-builder, and off that win began tackling stakes company. The result was third in the Prairie Mile and then the Indiana second.

“The Ellis Park Derby will give him a chance to really show what he can do at more distance,” Amoss said. “He's an improving young horse.”

The post Amoss Hopes Sermononthemount Will ‘Really Show What He Can Do’ In Ellis Park Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

‘It Doesn’t Get Any Better’: Utley Wins Stakes At Home With Yes It’s Ginger

Mike “Hotdog” Utley, this Bud's for you!

Utley, who runs his family's Edward Utley Jr. Inc. beer (including Budweiser) distributorship in Henderson, got his biggest thrill in horse racing as favored Yes It's Ginger wore down the speedy Elle Z for a 1 1/4-length triumph in the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Ladies Sprint at Ellis Park. That's where the 59-year-old Utley has been going to the races since he was 12, as well as the hometown track for his eight partners who collectively own 25 percent of the 5-year-old mare with majority owner Brilliant Racing and Tagg Team Racing.

“It's great, in front of everybody,” Utley said. “I don't know how you can describe it… There will be a lot of Bud. I was crossing my fingers, trust me.”

He said the victory ranks No. 1 in his racing career as owner and fan “and it doesn't get any better.”

The Ladies Sprint was part of a turf stakes quartet Sunday that wrapped up the two-day Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Weekend at the RUNHAPPY meet at Ellis Park.

Marcelino Pedroza rode the Greg Foley-trained Yes It's Ginger for the first time, pressing Elle Z through a stiff pace before edging clear late. The Foley-trained Skinny Dip finished another 2 1/4 lengths back in third in the full field of 12 fillies and mares.

“I watched the replays on her and she's quick out of the gate,” said Pedroza, who earlier this meet won the Good Lord Stakes on the Foley-trained Bango. “She was quick out of the gate when she ran (finishing second June 3 at Churchill Downs) against Elle Z. We didn't want to be in the lead. We just wanted to sit there and make sure Elle Z felt the pressure. Turning for home, I asked her to go and she responded like a Quarter Horse. She was running in the end and was very impressive.”

Yes It's Ginger was the only one of the four Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Weekend stakes winners Sunday who didn't set a course record over the very firm turf. But she came close, powering 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:00.71, just off Totally Boss' mark of 1:00.26 set in 2019. Yes It's Ginger, a son of Yes It's True out of Ginger Light, paid $7 to win.

The mare now is 3 for 3 at Ellis Park. Brilliant Racing approached Foley about buying half-interest in Yes It's Ginger when she was a 4-year-old maiden who'd had arthroscopic surgery for a bone chip. Foley liked what he saw and brought in Utley's group, which had been looking for a horse and wanted to be part of the Foley family's Tagg Team Racing.

Yes It's Ginger promptly won a maiden and allowance race last summer at Ellis Park off a 13-month layoff. She came into this race off victory in Lone Star Park's $75,000 Chicken Fried Stakes in her last start. That made her the first stakes-winner for Utley, as well as for Louisville-based Brilliant Racing and Tagg Team, the partnership headed by trainer Greg Foley, wife Sheree and their sons Travis and Alex.

It was no sure thing that Yes It's Ginger would run at Ellis Park. She also was entered for a turf stakes Wednesday at Indiana Grand. While Foley thought the Indiana race's five-furlong distance would be even better, and the competition softer, the forecast for rain this coming week helped make the decision to stay put at Ellis.

“When we decided to run here, there were a lot of happy people, the boys from Henderson,” Foley said. “They're a great group, along with Brilliant, and then our own little group, our family.

“She's just a gutsy little filly. She gives you all every time you run her. From this time last year, when she broke her maiden over here at Ellis, she's just done nothing but gotten better all the time. She ran very impressive in Texas last time and again today. She's just a nice filly.”

Foley also was happy with Skinny Dip, who was making her stakes debut. The goal was to get at least a stakes-placing for the well-bred Into Mischief filly, a mission accomplished.

Yes It's Ginger now is 6-5-0 in 18 starts, earning $295,511. The $40,000 Ocala 2-year-old purchase in 2018 — the first horse bought by Brilliant Racing— was picked out by Brilliant founding members Natalie Gils and Brandon Stauble.

“She's been incredibly special to us — being the first one we bought, giving her all that time not knowing if she was going to come back,” Gils said. “… When it came to the point where we had to sell (part of) her, having the Foleys step in, it's just been a great relationship with them. It was really a blessing in disguise.”

The post ‘It Doesn’t Get Any Better’: Utley Wins Stakes At Home With Yes It’s Ginger appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Medaglia d’Oro Colt Another Promising Firster for Godolphin on Ellis Card

5th-Ellis, $51,085, Msw, 8-8, 2yo, 6f, 1:09.79, ft, 2 3/4 lengths.
FREELANCER (c, 2, Medaglia d'Oro–Libreta {SW, $128,660}, by Girolamo) joined Baladi (Pioneerof the Nile) as the second juvenile Godolphin homebred unveiled on Ellis Park's card Sunday by Brendan Walsh to graduate at first asking. Sent at 16-1 from the outside gate, Freelancer rushed up to duel with Blue Kentucky (Include) for the lead with the two exchanging head decisions at the :22.41 quarter mark and the :45.36 half-mile mark. The bay took over for good with two furlongs to go and sailed home on top, drawing away to finish 2 3/4 lengths in front of a chasing Gunoe (Into Mischief), a $1-million Keeneland yearling last year. Freelancer got the six panels in a sharp 1:09.79, more than a second faster than stablemate Baladi earlier on the card. He had tuned up for his debut with a half-mile bullet in :48 3/5 (1/14) over the surface Aug. 3. The winner's dam died in 2019, leaving only Freelancer and an unraced sophomore filly named Dazzle Her (Street Sense). Her granddam is GSW Sahara Gold (Seeking the Gold), dam of MGISW Better Lucky (Ghostzapper) and herself out of 1995 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Desert Stormer (Storm Cat). Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $30,600. Click for the Equibase.com chart.
O/B-Godolphin, LLC (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh.

The post Medaglia d’Oro Colt Another Promising Firster for Godolphin on Ellis Card appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Pioneerof the Nile Colt Impresses in Ellis Park Debut

3rd-Ellis, $51,000, Msw, 8-8, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.87, ft, 5 1/2 lengths.
BALADI (c, 2, Pioneerof the Nile–Dancing House {GSW & GISP, $450,825}, by Tapit), sent off at 11-1, was among a pack of horses chasing the early pacesetter down the backstretch before rushing up to take the lead after a quarter in :23.55. He began inching away without being asked after a half in :46.75 and skipped clear down the lane before finishing geared down and 5 1/2 lengths in front. Let My People Go (Pioneerof the Nile) was second. Dancing House, winner of the GII Barbara Fritchie S. and third in the GI Spinaway S., died in 2019. Baladi's second dam is multiple Grade I winner Tout Charmant (Slewvescent). Click for the Equibase.com chart. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $30,600.
O/B-Godolphin, LLC (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh.

The post Pioneerof the Nile Colt Impresses in Ellis Park Debut appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post