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Sally’s Curlin Tries To Regain Her Mojo In Ellis’ Groupie Doll

Even if Sally's Curlin hadn't won CJ Thoroughbreds' first graded stakes, the 5-year-old mare would hold special meaning for managing partner Corey Johnsen.

“First and foremost, she's named my daughter, Sally,” said Johnsen, who before becoming a full-time horseman was a noted racetrack operator who ran and owned part-interest in Lone Star Park and Kentucky Downs until those tracks were sold. “That's most important. Secondly, she is our first graded-stakes winner.”

Now Sally's Curlin returns off a 3 1/2-month layoff in Ellis Park's $125,000 RUNHAPPY Groupie Doll, part of Sunday's blockbuster five-stakes card at the RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park that includes the $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby. Sally's Curlin has raced at Ellis Park once before, winning an entry-level allowance race at the Groupie Doll's mile distance in 2019.

“She worked like the wind Saturday,” Johnsen said by phone from Texas. “We were looking forward to a strong 5-year-old campaign from Sally. And then she just kind of lost her focus in the spring and we gave her some time off. She's coming back from that break, and the word is that she's training as good as ever.”

Said trainer Dale Romans: “It's all positive with Sally's Curlin. We gave her a little freshener, and she came back better than ever. Hopefully she jumps up and runs to her old form.”

Corey Lanerie has the mount.

Sally's Curlin — a $160,000 Keeneland yearling by two-time Horse of the Year Curlin — was among the first horses purchased by CJ Thoroughbreds when Johnsen and his son, C.J., launched the syndicate. The mare is owned in partnership with Left Turn Racing and Casner Racing.

Sally's Curlin required five starts to win, doing so the first time she ran in blinkers. Aggressively placed in the Grade 3 Indiana Oaks off that victory, she beat one horse but rebounded to win at Ellis Park. That was immediately followed by a 9 1/4-length second-level allowance victory at Churchill Downs and the Grade 3 Chilukki Stakes that provided CJ Thoroughbreds its initial graded-stakes triumph. In fact, including her maiden win, Sally's Curlin is 4 for 4 at a mile on dirt.

Sally started her 4-year-old season with victory in Gulfstream Park's Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie at seven-eighths of a mile in mid-March. Then COVID hit and she didn't race until July, finishing fifth in Keeneland's Grade 1 Madison then third in Churchill Downs' delayed Grade 1 Derby City Distaff, both with exceedingly tough fields. Five disappointing races later, including her last two starts on grass, and it was time for a break and chance at a reset.

“Her 4-year-old year got messed up by COVID-19 and the race cancellations,” Johnsen said. “We had so many high hopes after that Hurricane Bertie effort, when she ran a super-good speed figure and the race of her life. And then we just couldn't run her at her favorite tracks and favorite distances for a long time. It was very disappointing. Having said that, she is Grade 1 stakes-placed, and she ran a great race that day at Churchill…. I'm hoping the old Sally will show up.”

Of course, the last time Sally ran at Ellis, it launched that her three-race win streak. Johnsen promised before the Ellis victory that if she won, he would donate $500 to the Kentuckiana Friends of V foundation that raises money for cancer research and programs. Bob Valvano and Mike Pratt happened to be broadcasting their sports-talk show on Louisville's ESPN 680 that day as part of a KFOV fund-raiser.

It turns out that KFOV is having a golf fundraiser on Monday in Louisville. Johnsen knows a good-luck charm when he experiences one, saying, “If Sally wins the Groupie Doll, we'll donate $1,000. One of the best races of her career was at Ellis Park. We're hoping that setting will create some more success for her. She is the ultimate one-turn mile horse, and that's perfect for her.”

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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.”

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‘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.”

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Sunday’s Insights: $1M Into Mischief Colt Debuts at Ellis

2nd-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:41 p.m.
LOVE TO RUN (Connect) debuts for Breeze Easy LLC and trainer Mark Casse, who enjoyed is year-delayed induction into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Friday. Piloted by Tyler Gaffalione, who is striking at a 19% clip at the current meet, the half to MSP Thanks Mr. Edison realized a $640,000 final bid from agent Tom McGreevy following a 10 2/5 breeze at the OBSAPR Sale. The price represented the top price for a 2-year-old filly and the second-highest price for a juvenile this season. TJCIS PPs

3rd-ELP, $51K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 2:46 p.m.
Frank Fletcher and Ten Strike Racing's PURE ROCKET (Lord Nelson) gets his start for Brad Cox. Representing his sire's first crop of foals, the colt brought $460,000 at Keeneland last September, making him the highest priced offering by the Spendthrift sire last season. Bred by Mulholland Springs, the colt is out of Reina Maria (Songandaprayer), the dam of of Grade II winner Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief), also standing at Spendthrift Farm. Cox is also represented by $625,000 KEESEP buy Guest Speaker (Into Mischief), representing Larry Best's OXO Equine. TJCIS PPs

5th-ELP, $51K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:42 p.m.
OXO Equine LLC's GUNOE (Into Mischief) adds some sparkle to Ellis' Sunday card. Trained by Brad Cox, the son of GSP Curlina (Cuvee) realized $1 million at KEESEP last season. He is a half-brother to GSP Sine Wave (Big Brown). TJCIS PPs

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