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Art Collector Puts In Easy Maintenance Drill Ahead Of Aug. 9 Runhappy Ellis Park Derby

Bruce Lunsford's 3-year-old Art Collector, winner of Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes in his last start, worked an easy half-mile in 49 seconds Saturday morning at Churchill Downs in preparation for the $200,000 Runhappy Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9. Regular jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. was aboard.

Trainer Tommy Drury said by phone that he shipped Art Collector to Churchill Downs because the track at his Skylight Training Center base in Oldham County is being resurfaced. He said Art Collector will stay at Churchill Downs until shipping to Ellis Park the morning of the race.

“He's fit; we weren't looking for much today,” Drury said. “Just a little maintenance half-mile, let him stretch his legs a little. Brian said he couldn't have been happier, kind of had his ears thrown up. Just cruised along. I think Big John (Churchill clocker John Nichols) had him galloping out in 1:01 and change. It was really nice, just what I wanted. I think he got off the first eighth-mile in 13 (seconds) and just kind of picked it up from there. He's on the same schedule he's been on. He'll come back and work next Friday or Saturday and that should pretty much set us up for the race.”

“Everything was good,” Hernandez said. “Just a maintenance move, nice and smooth.”

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‘Everything Is Going Smoothly’ With Travers Contender Max Player

George E. Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds' Max Player, the third-place finisher in last month's Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, continues to train forwardly towards the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers on August 8, trainer Linda Rice said.

Max Player, who finished only behind Dr Post and winner Tiz the Law in the Belmont Stakes on June 20, worked for the third time since the first leg of the Triple Crown, going five furlongs in 1:02.21 on Monday morning over the Belmont Park training track.

“He breezed fine and everything went well,” Rice said. “We took it easy with him because the temperatures have been in the high-90s out there. It's been crazy hot, but everything is going smoothly.”

The Honor Code colt, 2-1-1 in four career races, made his first two starts at Parx, running second in his debut at one mile on November 12 before winning at the same distance at second asking over a sloppy and sealed track on December 17.

In his first race as a sophomore, Max Player defeated an eight-horse field by 3 ¼ lengths in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 3 Withers on February 1 at Aqueduct Racetrack. In the Belmont Stakes, which was shortened from its famed 1 ½-mile distance to a one-turn 1 1/8 miles to accommodate the revised schedule for 3-year-olds in training, Max Player earned a personal-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure.

With the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby set for September 5 and serving as the middle jewel of the Triple Crown this year, Max Player earned 30 qualifying points for his Belmont Stakes blacktype, adding to the 10 he accumulated with his Withers win. His 40 total qualifying points places him 15th on the current leaderboard, with the Runhappy Travers offering a 100-40-20-10 scale to the top-four finishers.

“He's on schedule,” Rice said. “We're at our home base here. He'll get one more breeze at Belmont and we'll go from there.”

The “Mid-Summer Derby” is contested at 1 ¼ miles, which would make the Travers both Max Player's first start at Saratoga and also the longest race in which he's contested. Rice said there is a possibility he could work at Saratoga before running, but said he has already won in unfamiliar places.

“When we won in the Withers at Aqueduct, he had never been on that track, either,” Rice said. “He can handle new situations well.”

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It’s Official: Art Collector To Use Ellis Park Derby As ‘Steppingstone’ To First Saturday In September

Bruce Lunsford's 3-year-old colt Art Collector, winner of Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes in his last start, is coming to the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9, trainer Tommy Drury told the track this week.

The Ellis Park Derby, with its purse doubled and distance extended from a mile to 1 1/8 miles, this year is part of the official Kentucky Derby Championship Series. The Ellis Park Derby winner receives 50 points toward qualifying for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, a number that virtually assures a spot in the 20-horse field at Churchill Downs. The runner-up receives 20 points, with 10 for third and five for fourth.

While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the world, the pandemic did deliver the first-ever Kentucky Derby prep to Ellis Park's summer meet because of the delay to America's greatest horse race.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to even have the race to begin with,” said Jeff Hall, Ellis Park's director of racing operations who has lived in Henderson most of his life and has worked for the track for around 30 years. “To have one of the top horses in the country coming here to run, right now is our time to shine with this. We couldn't be more thrilled.”

Art Collector already has secured a spot in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby, thanks to earning 100 points with his July 11 Blue Grass victory under regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr.

Since that race, Drury and Lunsford have said that the options were to train the eight weeks up to the Derby or to run at Ellis Park. Shipping to upstate New York for Saratoga's Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 8 was never under consideration for Art Collector, who resumed training last Wednesday at Drury's major base at the Skylight Training Center in Oldham County.

“Bruce kind of left the decision up to me,” Drury said. “I felt we needed to go somewhere, and that was our only option. Before I said too much, I just wanted to make sure my horse came out of the Keeneland race OK and everything was in good order. Now that we're back on the track and seeing him train, gosh, if anything it seems like he's better. The timing of it is going to be good leading up to the Derby. That's the ultimate goal, and we're going to try to take our best shot.”

Drury is using the Ellis Park Derby for conditioning purposes, with hot weather expected to impact how he trains Art Collector in the mornings. The goal is to win the Ellis Park Derby but not to “gut” the horse in the process.

“The good news is that it's not a have-to-win situation,” he said. “If at any point Brian feels like we're not getting the trip or things aren't going the way we need it to go, we don't have to abuse him to win the race. We just want to get the race under our belt. This isn't the long-term goal. This is just a steppingstone to get us there.

“If this was the fall of the year and we were having nice cool days, that puts a whole different spin on it. But being the time of year it is, taking the weather into consideration, I think we're better off to go down and run the race one day. On the day-to-day type stuff, that's going to allow us to keep him in the same routine he's been in thus far.”

Lunsford and Drury are lifelong Louisvillians, while Hernandez has lived in the area since he began riding full-time in 2004. Lunsford also has a lot of close friends in western Kentucky.

“Bruce is thrilled,” Drury said of running in the Ellis Park Derby. “He's a Kentucky guy and he wants to support Kentucky racing. He thought it was a great idea. Ellis Park has gone above and beyond to help the horsemen and to have their meet. Hopefully having a horse like Art Collector in their big race helps them a little bit. Hopefully it's good for all of us.

“The ultimate goal is to run this horse the first Saturday in September, and this is a perfect steppingstone to get us there. The fact that we're able to do it without leaving the state, that's icing on the cake. Shipping around this time of year, it's a little harder on horses. It's hot, the humidity is up. It takes a little more out of them. To be able to zip right down the road, run your horse and have him sleep in his own stall that night, that plays as big a part in it as anything.”

Said Lunsford: “You could try to train him up to the Kentucky Derby. That's a long eight weeks. You don't want to start working horses quick; you might as well just have a race. We've got four weeks to get ready. There are a lot of things I love about Ellis anyway, and it gives me a chance to give back. They've always been good to me. Every time I've been in politics, I've won every time in Henderson. I know a lot of people down there. And I think Brian and Tommy are excited about doing this.

“You know what? My goal is, if this horse is as good I hope he is, that we can kind of call this Louisville's hope, all Louisville guys,” he said, jokingly adding, “It's like a basketball game — I'd ask for a 'white out' for all the people for us. It could be fun.”

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Ny Traffic’s Haskell Second Leads To Jump In NTRA Top 3-Year-Old Poll

Authentic's victory in the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes allowed him to hold his ground on the latest National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Three-Year-Old Poll, but it was race runner-up Ny Traffic who gained heightened regard among voters.

In earning his first career top-level triumph on July 18, Authentic kept himself among the leading Kentucky Derby contenders and remained in the third position on the poll with 280 points. The son of Into Mischief improved his record to four wins from five career starts as he trails only Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law (38 first-place votes, 389 points) and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby victor Honor A. P. (1 first-place vote, 345 points) in the rankings.

Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes winner Art Collector (248 points) and Los Alamitos Derby victor Uncle Chuck (135) sit fourth and fifth, respectively, on the poll with the only newcomer to the top 10 being the aforementioned Ny Traffic, who jumps from 18th up to sixth with 124 points. Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., Ny Traffic rallied late and was beaten just a nose by Authentic in the Haskell, his third consecutive runner-up outing. Ny Traffic had previously finished second in the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes and Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and was also third in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes.

King Guillermo, winner of the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, ranks seventh with 113 points followed by Dr Post (103 points), the third-place finisher in the Haskell. Leading sophomore fillies Gamine (101 points) and Swiss Skydiver (96) complete the top 10.

There was little change in this week's NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll with champion distaffer Midnight Bisou racking up 23 first-place votes and 359 points to maintain the No. 1 spot for another week. Stephen Foster Stakes winner Tom's d'Etat (7 first-place votes, 323 points) is second with multiple Grade 1-winner Vekoma (2 first-place votes, 293 points) holding in third.

Zulu Alpha (156 points) moves up to fourth just ahead of Monomoy Girl, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2018, in fifth with 1 first-place vote and 146 points. By My Standards (135 points) and Mucho Gusto (131) rank sixth and seventh followed by Tiz the Law (2 first-place votes, 112 points), who continues his run as the lone sophomore in the Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Code of Honor (1 first-place vote, 90 points) and Maximum Security (3 first-place votes, 88 points) round out the top 10.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in both the Top Three-Year-Old Poll and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup in November.

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