Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks

Trainer Oliver, Jockey Bejarano Celebrate Multi-Win Day At Ellis Park Saturday

Trainer Vicki Oliver and jockey Rafael Bejarano proved the stars of Saturday's first day of Kentucky Downs Preview Weekend at the RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., teaming for three victories, with the rider winning four overall.

Oliver brought two 3-year-old fillies from her Keeneland base. But instead of running both Flippant and Core Values in the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks, she opted to put Core Values in against boys in the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby. That resulted in a nose victory over favored Royal Prince, with Flippant winning the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks two races later by a half-length over Caldee.

The trainer and jockey also teamed to take the third race, a $52,000 turf allowance sprint, with the 4-year-old filly Never Forget, who is out of the same mare (Frivolous) as Flippant. Both fillies are owned by breeder G. Watts Humphrey, the trainer's dad.

Bejarano's big day started with victory in the second race aboard Casino Star in an optional claiming $40,000 allowance race.

Oliver said it was only the second time in her career that she'd won three races on a card, the last time coming in June 19, 2006, at The Meadowlands' all-grass meet. She said it was her first time winning two stakes.

Oliver said she's hoping to run all three winning fillies in stakes at Kentucky Downs' meet in early September.

“I love Kentucky Downs. Love Ellis Park, and it's fun to be here supporting them,” she said. “I think it's fantastic they have this day. It's great for all of us who stay here and support the Kentucky circuit. It keeps us staying here. And we get a leg up to get into Kentucky Downs for that.”

Meet-leading trainer Brad Cox — who was busy winning Saratoga's Grade 1 Whitney Stakes with Knicks Go (an Ellis Park 2-year-old winner and runner-up in the Ellis Park Derby) — won the first of the stakes quartet as Shared Sense took the $65,000 Tri-State Overnight Stakes under Brian Hernandez Jr. Trainer Brendan Walsh — at Saratoga, where he was second in the Whitney with Maxfield, who trained all summer as a 2-year-old at Ellis Park — captured the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Turf Sprint with favored Born Great, ridden by Adam Beschizza.

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Flippant Gives Vicki Oliver Another Saturday Stakes Win At Ellis

In the first running of the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks, Flippant and jockey Rafael Bejarano upset the field to give trainer Vicki Oliver yet another win at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., Saturday.

“I know Flippant was taking a step up off a maiden race, but she was experienced enough to run against this kind of company,” said Oliver, referring to the filly's five prior starts. “We trained the mare (Frivolous), she was a really classy mare. She (Flippant) deserved to be in stakes company, and she proved it.”

After stumbling at the start, Flippant steadied and settled well off the pace, leaving Stillchargingmaria to set a representative pace followed loosely by Takntothecleaners. By the top of the stretch, Caldee and Flippant engaged each other with Flippant gaining the ultimate advantage by a half-length.

“This horse ran a tremendous race today,” said Bejarano, who was aboard on Flippant's three-length maiden victory at 1 1/4 miles. “Today, there was a lot of speed. The track played really fair today for horses that came from behind. We had a beautiful trip after having a bad break from the gate. I just got her set and tried to get her relaxed. She did good and kept running in the end. Definitely, she was the best horse today.”

Owned and bred by G. Watts Humphrey, the daughter of Tapit improved her record to two wins in five lifetime starts and increased her earnings to $115,109. Flippant went off 3-1 paying $8.20 to win while covering the distance in 1:39.56.

Asked about winning three races, Oliver said: “Oh, it's unbelievable. The last time I won three in a day was at The Meadowlands a long, long time ago (2006), when they had one of those all-day turf days.”

She said winning two stakes in a day was a first.

“Never done that, so that's exciting,” she said. “But these two fillies are really, really nice fillies and so is the filly who won earlier, which I think is a stakes horse as well. So it's fun being loaded-up for Kentucky Downs.”

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Takntothecleaners Attempts To Stay Undefeated In Kentucky Downs Preview Stakes At Ellis

Michael Hernon's Takntothecleaners — winner of an off-the-turf maiden race by 9 1/4 lengths and a grass allowance race by 1 1/4 at Indiana Grand — tries to go to 3 for 3 as she steps into stakes company in Saturday's $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks at 1 1/16 miles at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky. She has never trailed a horse, but also faced only four horses in her first race. Rodney Prescott, aboard for her first two races, has a family conflict and will be replaced for this race by Adam Beschizza, said trainer Ethan West.

“She broke like a shot. Went out there with her ears pricked the whole time,” said the Indiana Grand-based West. “The jockey just kept her at her task. The second start, she's got tremendous gate speed. She shot out there, and they pressed her around there, with her ears pricked again. When Rodney asked her, she went.

“We wanted to give her a shot. She hasn't given us a reason not to try her in stakes company.”

As far as being in front, he said, “I think her ability put her there. We've had her since Turfway (over the winter), and we've always worked her in company, being a younger horse. She's always rated just fine. She's actually more relaxed by another horse than by herself. I think she just out-footed her early. I don't consider her a one-dimensional horse by any means.”

Takntothecleaners, a $15,000 2-year-old auction purchase, is 10-1 in the morning line. She breaks from post 7 among the nine 3-year-old fillies entered in the 1 1/16-mile grass race.

“I think she ranks somewhere in the middle,” West said of the competition. “Obviously she's not a standout. But I don't think she's going to be the longest shot.”

And off only two starts, there should be a lot of upside to Takntothecleaners.

“I've liked her since she came in,” West said. “She was very, very high strung when we got her. She still is a very high-energy filly. But her maturity is starting to come through. It's going to be tough. It's the first time she shipped, so we'll see how she handled that.

“We really didn't know what kind of filly she was when we got her. She just kept stepping up her game. She's gone a lot farther a lot faster than I thought.”

The Preview Oaks winner gets a fees-paid spot in the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks at 1 5/16 miles on Kentucky Downs' Sept. 5 opening card.

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Cox To Start Adventuring, Royal Prince Kentucky Downs Preview Weekend At Ellis

Brad Cox is showing no signs of letting down after a year that saw him win the Eclipse Award as North America's outstanding trainer and a record-tying four Breeders' Cup races.

That extends to the RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., where Cox has won a meet-leading 11 of 27 starts, with five seconds and three thirds. His haul can get even better as the stable figures to be in at least half of the eight stakes on tap next weekend for Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Weekend.

Entries were taken Sunday for Saturday's stakes quintet, with Royal Prince running in the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf and Adventuring and Caldee in the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks at 1 1/16 miles on grass. The Preview stakes are designed as stepping stones to Kentucky Downs' all-grass meet Sept. 5-13, with the Ellis Park winners getting a fees-paid berth in the corresponding stakes. While it's not part of the Preview series, Cox also has 2020 Indiana Derby winner Shared Sense in Saturday's Tri-State Overnight Stakes for older horses at a mile on dirt.

Cox also has Hieronymus for next Sunday's $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Mint Million at a mile on turf. With entries for Sunday not taken until Thursday, it's possible the barn could have others running.

“Brad is the best, and he has very good stock everywhere, to be honest,” said Jorge Abrego, Cox's assistant overseeing the Ellis Park division.

So far this season Cox earned his first Triple Crown victory with 2-year-old champion Essential Quality winning the Belmont Stakes, then tacking on Saturday's Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Mandaloun — who a week earlier captured Monmouth Park's Grade 1 Haskell upon a disqualification — would give Cox his first Kentucky Derby if the Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit is ultimately DQed because of a medication infraction.

Cox is No. 2 in North American purse earnings, his $16.79 million trailing only Steve Asmussen's $17.5 million (a margin that would be wiped out if Mandaloun becomes the Derby victor). Cox's 228 victories out of 522 starters heading into Sunday's racing reflect a 28-percent win rate. He's also averaging a whopping $29,879 every time he runs a horse. Both figures are second only to Baffert's 30 percent and $43,548 per-starter average among the top 40 trainers based on earnings.

While Shared Sense has been at Indiana Grand with Cox assistant Rick Giannini and Caldee has been at Keeneland, Abrego oversaw the final works Sunday morning for Royal Prince, Adventuring, and Hieronymus.

Royal Prince and Adventuring worked together and were officially clocked cruising a half-mile in :50.60 right after the track opened about 5:25 a.m.

“All week the horses galloped very well. We tried to make a good match-up today,” said Abrego, whose own timing of the works was a fifth-second faster. “They went the first three-eighths in :38, :49 4/5, (five-eighths in) 1:01 4/5 – very good for these two. I think both horses are ready for next week.”

A half-hour later, Hieronymus worked :49 flat in company.

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Owner-breeder Godolphin and Cox had been wanting to get the regally bred Adventuring on the turf, but her first three career starts in New Orleans were in races rained off the grass. She won the third by 6 1/2 lengths and followed that with victory in Turfway Park's Bourbonette Oaks over a synthetic surface. Back on the dirt, Pimlico's Black-Eyed Susan proved a debacle for Adventuring. Finally getting on turf, she was a close fifth in Churchill Downs' Tepin Stakes.

“I kind of think the filly likes the turf, but maybe wants it faster,” Abrego said. “We're trying to give her another shot here. I think firmer is better for her.”

Royal Prince already is a two-time stakes-winner on turf, down at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La., and Sam Houston in Houston, Texas. In his last two starts, he was second in Churchill Downs' War Chant and third in the Audubon. The son of Cairo Prince has experience at Ellis Park, having finished second at the track in his debut last summer.

“Royal Prince, the horse is very nice,” Abrego said. “I think he'll show up next week. I like the way the horses are doing.”

Hieronymus, whose first career victory came at Ellis Park, won Canterbury Park's Mystic Lake in his last start.

“He's a very honest horse, tries hard every time he runs,” the assistant trainer said. “Last week, he breezed in :51 (for a half-mile). He breezed good, but with company this week, he went in :48-and-3, a minute and 3. I'm very happy with his breeze. I think this horse will be tough next Sunday.”

Shared Sense made his first start as a 4-year-old in Indiana Grand's Michael Schaefer Memorial, tiring to fifth as the heavy favorite. The son of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense finished fifth in last year's Ellis Park Derby.

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