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Pair Of Stakes Races Added To Ellis Park’s 2021 Racing Season

Ellis Park is back on track to offer record purses while adding two new stakes for the 2021 racing season. The meet runs Sunday June 27 through Saturday Sept. 4.

Racing secretary Dan Bork said maiden races likely will top the record $50,000 achieved in 2019 before the pandemic forced cutbacks last year in the wake of a three-month shutdown. Average daily purses should top $350,000, which would be the highest in Ellis Park's 99-year history. Those numbers include Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund supplements, for which the vast majority of horses are eligible.

The condition book, which details the races for which entries will be taken on a given day, will be finalized in May after the Kentucky Derby, Bork said. Meanwhile, a 14-race stakes schedule was announced today, highlighted by the highly successful Kentucky Downs Preview Day now becoming Preview Weekend on Aug. 7-8 with the two new races. Six stakes received $25,000 purse increases over last year.

The Preview races — all on grass and designed as stepping stones to Kentucky Downs' lucrative stakes in early September— now total seven with the addition of the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at a mile and a sixteenth and the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby for 3-year-olds at a mile and an eighth.

All the Kentucky Downs Preview stakes carry a purse of $100,000 with the exception of the $125,000 Preview Turf Cup, a 1 1/4-mile prelude to Kentucky Downs' $1 million, Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles.

“We should have very quality racing,” said trainer Larry Jones, the Hopkinsville native and long-time Henderson resident who has spent most of the summers of his training career at Ellis Park. “With the extra stakes and the money the way it is, it's going to bring in a lot better outfits – horses that maybe would have gone to Saratoga will stay and race at Ellis. I'm looking forward to it. It reminds you of days gone by.”

The Preview Dueling Grounds Derby and Oaks are set for Saturday Aug. 7, along with the Preview Turf Sprint. The remaining four stakes are scheduled for Sunday Aug. 8: the Preview Turf Cup, Preview Ladies Sprint, Preview Ladies Turf and Preview Mint Million Mile.

The winner of each of the Preview Weekend stakes receives an automatic spot with the entry fees waived in the corresponding stakes at Kentucky Downs.

Five dirt stakes take center stage a week later on Aug. 15, headlined by the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby. Last year's running of the 1 1/8-mile race was captured by Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass winner Art Collector. Also that day again will be the Groupie Doll for fillies and mares, the Ellis Park Juvenile and Ellis Park Debutante — each increased to $125,000 from 2020 — along with the $100,000 Audubon Oaks at seven-eighths of a mile.

The Eddie Kenneally-trained Lady Kate won last year's Groupie Doll and then finished second to two-time champion Monomoy Girl in Churchill Downs' Grade 1 La Troienne. Sconsin, who is trained by Greg Foley, went from a third-place finish in last year's Audubon Oaks to victory in Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Eight Belles and a fourth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

The purse for every stakes includes $25,000 in KTDF supplements for registered Kentucky-breds.

“We've been delighted with how horseplayers and fans have responded to our stakes being super-sized into festival-type days,” said Jeff Hall, Ellis Park's director of racing operations. “Now we're going from two to three days that will provide some of the best racing programs outside of Saratoga and Del Mar. And I dare say on the two stakes-packed Sundays that we could be right up there with both coasts.

“Since creating Kentucky Downs Preview Day in 2018, the program has just blossomed and succeeded in its mission of providing launching pads to Kentucky Downs. We're thrilled to add two more stakes, filling a void in the 3-year-old grass divisions and expanding the series to a weekend.”

The stakes schedule kicks off July 4 with the $75,000 Ellis Park Turf for fillies and mares and the $75,000 Good Lord for older sprinters on July 17.

Boosting Ellis Park's purses is the unique relationship the track has with Kentucky Downs, which through an arrangement with the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association will transfer $4.2 million into Ellis' purse account this year. That money will be split equally between unrestricted association purses and KTDF funds, for which the transfer requires approval of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and its KTDF advisory committee.

“The three-way deal among Kentucky Downs, Ellis Park and the Kentucky HBPA has proven a win-win-win for all parties and the state and really helps strengthen the entire circuit,” said Marty Maline, executive director of the Kentucky HBPA. “Kentucky Downs Preview Weekend is so fitting because it also casts the limelight on Kentucky Downs several weeks before they open. Ellis adding two 3-year-old turf stakes will keep those horses in Kentucky throughout the summer and heading into Kentucky Downs.

“Kentucky tracks were hit hard last year with COVID restrictions and the three-month shutdown. It's so great to see things coming back to some sort of normalcy. The Ellis meet should be sensational — the barn area full and crowds as large as the governor permits. There will be no better place in the Tri-State area to break out of cabin fever than at Ellis Park.”

Ellis Park 2021 stakes schedule
Each includes $25,000 KTDF*

Sunday July 4 — $75,000 Ellis Park Turf, fillies & mares, 3 years old & up; 1 1/16 miles (turf).

Saturday July 17 — $75,000 Good Lord, 3-year-olds & up, 6 1/2 furlongs.

Saturday Aug. 7 — $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles (turf); Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby, 3-year-olds, 1 1/8 miles (turf); $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint, 3-year-olds & up, 5 1/2 furlongs (turf).

Sunday Aug. 8 — $125,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup, 3-year-olds & up, 1 1/4 miles (turf); Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Sprint, fillies & mares 3 years olds & up, 5 1/2 furlongs (turf); $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Turf, fillies & mares 3 years old & up, one mile (turf); $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Mint Million Mile, 3-year-olds & up, mile (turf).

Sunday Aug. 15 — $200,000 Ellis Park Derby, 3-year-olds, 1 1/8 miles; $125,000 Groupie Doll, fillies & mares, 3 years old and up, mile; $125,000 Ellis Park Juvenile, 2-year-olds, 7 furlongs; $125,000 Ellis Park Debutante, 2-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs; $100,000 Audubon Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs.

*Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund

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Factor This Digs In To Win Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup

The pressure never let up on Factor This as he made his 1 ¼-mile trek around Ellis Park on Sunday. It was an expected byproduct that comes with the burden of heavy favoritism, but it still made trainer Brad Cox's nerves fray slightly as he watched it unfold from afar.

While being the target comes with the territory when one brings a streak of graded victories to the table, so too does having the mettle to turn back any attempts to thwart that momentum. So after sending one threat after another on its way during the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup Stakes, Factor This dug into the depths of his class in the final strides to keep the late-charging Hierarchy at bay by a half-length and notch his fourth straight triumph.

The Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Stakes was one of five turf stakes on Sunday's card comprising Kentucky Downs Preview Day at the RUNHAPPY Summer Meet at Ellis Park. A total of $4,118,000 was wagered on the 10-race card, one of the highest in track history.

Having earned consecutive wins in the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Stakes, Grade 2 Muniz Memorial Classic, and Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes this season, Factor This came into the Preview Turf Stakes with the biggest reputation in the 11-horse field and, by extension, the most to lose. His front-running style is no secret so when the 4-5 favorite bounded away under jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, he was met first by longshot Phantom Currency, who kept his head in front through opening fractions of :24.99 and :50.25.

“There was obviously another horse up there on the pace. That's a tough post (10) to win from, the way they angle the gate at the quarter pole,” said Cox, who watched the race from his base in Louisville. “He had to overcome some things today. Laid in the two path around both turns. But overall, I was super pleased with the horse. He always shows up.”

Factor This put his neck in front of Phantom Currency past the half but just as that challenger began to drop back, Ry's the Guy started to come with his bid and drew even with the son of The Factor around the far turn.

The nimble turn of foot from Factor This allowed him to put a bit of daylight between himself and his rivals entering the lane but that reprieve was short lived as Hierarchy came to him in deep stretch. To Cox's relief, that's as far as an upset bid would get as Factor This hit the wire a half-length in front to capture the race for a second straight year.

“Our horse wears blinkers and I think wants he feels the pressure of the other horse, he's got a lot of fight in him,” Cox said. “He showed that this winter at the Fair Grounds and probably showed it more than ever this summer at Churchill in the Wise Dan.

“(The soft turf) was another thing he had to overcome today. There was some pace presence today, the post and he won this race last year and set the track record – I know the race has only been run a few times at that distance.”

The final time was 2:04.52 over a course rated soft. Split the Wickets was third, 3 ¾-lengths behind runner-up Hierarchy.

“He got a perfect trip saving a lot of ground and got out, but he was second-best,” said Corey Lanerie, jockey of Hierarchy. “We just couldn't go by him.”

Factor This has two fees-paid berths in $1 million races: the Grade 3 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup on Sept. 12 at 1 1/2 miles – a race he was fourth in last year – and the Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on September 5 for winning the Fair Grounds' Grade 2 Muniz.

“We're going to let the dust settle. I think we'd like to take a shot in the Grade 1 on Derby Day,” Cox said. “I feel l like kept a pretty close eye on that division from a mile and an eighth to a mile and a quarter and I don't see anyone to be scared of, to be honest with you. I think this horse can win a Grade 1, given the right set up and the distance.”

Owned by Gaining Ground Racing and bred in Kentucky out of the Singspiel (IRE) mare Capricious Miss (GB), Factor This has won four of five starts in this his 5-year-old campaign with his lone defeat being a third-place run in the Colonel E. R. Bradley Stakes at Fair Grounds on January 18. He is also unbeaten in three starts at Ellis Park and improves his overall mark to 11 wins from 30 starts with $902,780 in earnings.

“He's a cool horse. I get along with him and he makes my job easy,” Bridgmohan said. “You just have to get him in position and he usually does it all. They come to him and he fights. He makes me look good every time. He's a hard-trying horse and as gutsy as they come. I'm just a passenger on him. He does all the work.”

Background: Factor This taking owners on “pretty crazy” ride

Quotes
Brad Cox, winning trainer, Factor This (by phone from Louisville): “There was obviously another horse up there on the pace. That's a tough post (11) to win from, the way they angle the gate at the quarter pole. He had to overcome some things today. Laid in the two path around both turns. But overall, I was super pleased with the horse. He always shows up. Very happy with Shaun and the position he put him in. We talked it over this morning how we thought the race would come up. Shaun had a good feeling the horse next to us on the lead would be right there, so he was prepared for that. He did a good job evaluating that. He really gets the most out of this horse.”

(On 1 Hierarchy coming on late) “Yeah he was. Our horse wears blinkers and I think wants he feels the pressure of the other horse, he's got a lot of fight in him. He showed that this winter at the Fair Grounds and probably showed it more than ever this summer at Churchill in the Wise Dan.”

Factor This has two fees-paid berths in $1 million races: the $1 million, Grade 3 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup on Sept. 12 at 1 1/2 miles (a race he was fourth in last year after setting the pace) from winning the Ellis race, and the 1 1/8-mile Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5, Derby Day for winning the Fair Grounds' Grade 2 Muniz.

“We're going to let the dust settle. We'll talk to Tom and Brian Cutshall. I think we'd like to take a shot in the Grade 1 Derby Day. People are going to say it's a Grade 1. I feel l like kept a pretty close eye on that division from a mile and an eighth to a mile and a quarter and I don't see anyone to be scared of, to be honest with you. I think this horse can win a Grade 1, given the right set up and the distance.”

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Ellis Park Cancels After Fourth Race; Forecast Good For Sunday’s Kentucky Downs Preview Day

Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., canceled the remainder of Saturday's card after a deluge of rain swept into the area following the fourth race. Sunday's racing program, the Kentucky Downs Preview Day featuring five turf stakes, will go on as scheduled, track officials said.

“In the best interest of safety for our jockeys and horses, we are calling off the remainder of the Saturday racing program,” said Ellis Park general manager Jeff Inman. “The rain is supposed to let up this evening, and the forecast calls for beautiful weather for Sunday's Kentucky Downs Preview Day. Track superintendent Javier Barajas is the best in the business, and we have full confidence that our quick-draining turf course will be in great shape for our five grass stakes.”

Saturday's turf races were taken off the grass earlier in the morning because of overnight rain.

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Factor This, Mr. Misunderstood Headline Cox Contingent For Sunday’s Kentucky Downs Preview

There have been nine total stakes run in the first two years of Ellis Park's Kentucky Downs Preview Day, with trainer Brad Cox winning three and no other trainer winning more than one. Cox can pad that stat Sunday as he sends out four horses in the five $100,000 turf stakes designed as launching pads to big-money races at Kentucky Downs' all-grass meet.

The Cox arsenal is headlined by Factor This, who will try to repeat in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup, and Mr. Misunderstood, who won the inaugural Kentucky Downs Preview Tourist Mile in 2018 and was third last year. (Cox also won the 2018 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup with Arklow, who in his next start captured Kentucky Downs' $750,000 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup.)

Gaining Ground Racing's Factor This, a $62,500 claim two years ago, has already surpassed last year's breakout season, when he won three races and finished fourth after setting the pace in the 1 1/2-mile Kentucky Turf Cup, whose purse was upped to $1 million last year. Factor This started his 5-year-old season with a third but has ripped off three stakes wins since, sweeping New Orleans' Grade 3 Fair Grounds Stakes and Grade 2 Muniz Memorial before taking Churchill Downs' Grade 2, 1 1/16-mile Wise Dan in his last start.

Cox is using the Ellis stakes as a prep for Churchill Downs' $1 million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic on the delayed Kentucky Derby card Sept. 5. That Grade 1 stakes is 1 1/8 miles, with Cox believing the 1 1/4-mile at Ellis is a better setup than running in the mile stakes as a prep.

“We didn't want to go from the Wise Dan and give him all the time” in between, Cox said. “He had some time between the Muniz and the Wise Dan, and we believed the 1 1/4 mile-and-a-quarter race would fit in well on the schedule in terms of trying to make the race Derby Day. He likes to be able to break and clear off if given the opportunity, and you're going to be able to do that at a mile and a quarter more than a mile. I think his perfect distance is a mile and an eighth.”

Once put on turf, Mr. Misunderstood stamped himself among the best turf milers in the Midwest, winning eight stakes in 2017-2018. An illness hampered his 2019 season, but Mr. Misunderstood seemed to be back to form in winning Churchill Downs' Grade 3 River City for the second year in a row last November. Three races this year have been disappointments but have shown a progression, most recently a second in a tough Churchill Downs allowance race won by Preview Tourist Mile rival Spectacular Gem.

“He's run good,” Cox said. “He's had two races off the (four-month) layoff. The (handicapping) numbers are solid. He's won this race before. He's doing well. I'm happy with the way he's training. I think with a good trip, he'll be effective.”

Cox has Vanbrugh in the RUNHAPPY Preview Turf Sprint, Juddmonte Farm's 5-year-old gelding making his second start in the U.S. after racing in Europe. Vanbrugh was second in his American debut, a 1 1/16-mile Churchill allowance race that also was his first start in ninth months. Cox thinks the Ellis race's 5 1/2-furlong distance will be a bit short, but the goal is to get Vanbrugh to the $700,000 RUNHAPPY Turf Sprint at six furlongs at Kentucky Downs.

Meadow Dance comes into the Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Sprint for Cox off of a second in Prairie Meadows' Iowa Distaff at 1 1/16 miles. A six-furlong specialist, she's trying turf and 5 1/2 furlongs for the first time.

Looking ahead to Aug. 9, Cox said he and owner Godolphin are “leaning toward” running Indiana Derby winner Shared Sense in the $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby. “Right now I'd say we're pointing toward Ellis,” Cox said, adding of Keeneland's Toyota Blue Grass winner Art Collector, “We'll have to step up. Maybe if we move forward and that horse regresses we can beat him.”

Shared Sense was second to Art Collector in an inordinately tough four-horse allowance race at Churchill Downs.

Ellis Park will stage an all-turf Pick 5 on Sunday's stakes, which on Thursday drew a total of 55 entries: an overflow 13 in the Preview Ladies Turf, capacity 12 in the Preview Turf Cup and Preview Tourist Mile, 10 in the Preview Ladies Sprint and eight in the Preview Turf Sprint.
The $100,000 purse for each race includes $25,000 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund. The purse money for the stakes was generated at Kentucky Downs and transferred to Ellis Park in an arrangement with the horsemen's group at both tracks, the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association.

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