Ellis Park

The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton In theory, state racing commissions are supposed to provide a layer of checks and balances by making both racetrack operators and horsemen accountable for their actions. In practice though, that often doesn't happen because regulators in many jurisdictions fail to ask probing questions of licensees during open, public meetings. In Kentucky, for example, if you want the most concise on-the-record snapshot of what's going on with the circuit, the best source generally isn't a Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) meeting. Instead, the proceedings...

As a second-generation horse trainer and Kentuckian, my entire life has been spent in Thoroughbred racing. I've seen Kentucky racing at its finest, and I've seen how quickly out-of-state competition can render us increasingly irrelevant. Right now Kentucky is at the top. But it doesn't have to stay that way. I currently have 50 employees and do business with more than 100 vendors in Kentucky alone. Without Historical Horse Racing (HHR) revenue supplementing the purses for which our horses compete, many of those jobs will have to leave the state,...

Two days after Keeneland Association and Red Mile announced they would be shutting their joint historical horse racing (HHR) venture at the Lexington harness racino while imploring the Kentucky legislature to provide "more clarity" regarding the disputed legal status of HHR, Vince Gabbert, Keeneland's vice president and chief operating officer, was called upon during the Jan. 26 Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) teleconference to explain why that decision was made in the absence of any formal order from state officials to cease HHR, which is ongoing at other licensed locations...

Joe Talamo, recently relocated from the West Coast, won his first jockey's title on the Kentucky circuit after riding 20 winners at Ellis Park's Runhappy Summer meet which concluded Sunday. "It feels really good," said Talamo, who won a race both Saturday and Sunday to pull out of a tie with Rafael Bejarano. "Obviously Bejarano didn't ride the last couple of weeks, so that definitely helped quite a bit, in all honestly. But more than anything, I was just really happy that we got into some nice barns and outfits...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency EXPENSIVE DAUGHTER OF JACARANDA DEBUTS AT THE SPA 3rd-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 2:20 p.m. Peter Brant went to $925,000 at KEESEP for AMERICAN WEST (Curlin), the second foal and first to make the races out of GSW Jacaranda (Congrats), who makes her career bow in this test. Jon Clay's Alpha Delta Stable went to $2 million to acquire Jacaranda, in foal to Candy Ride (Arg), at the 2016 FTKNOV sale. The Grade III winner is a half-sister to MGISW and hot young sire...

4th-Ellis, $46,172, Msw, 8-21, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:05.73, fm. LA LIBERTEE (f, 2, Constitution--La Rambla {SP}, by City Zip), a half-sister to Tracy Farmer's homebred Fly So Pretty (Sky Mesa), SW, $125,919, who scored in Aqueduct's Stewart Manor S. last November at two, made her debut a winning one at Ellis for the same connections. The chestnut found a fluid stride immediately out of the gate and settled into a comfortable third on the rail with the top flight while the rest of the field dawdled several lengths back....

1st-Ellis, $46,200, Msw, 8-21, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:06.71, fm. NAVRATILOVA (f, 2, Medaglia d'Oro--Centre Court {GISW, $961,048}, by Smart Strike), backed as the tepid 5-2 favorite with a standout pedigree among this group, flew home late to ace her maiden test. Far back early among a very strung-out field, the bay first caught the eye when rolling into fourth entering the stretch. She continued to gobble up ground down the center of the course and blew by the tiring leaders to prevail by a widening 2 1/4 lengths. Fellow...

2nd-Ellis, $46,020, Msw, 8-16, 2yo, 5f, :59.26, ft. SITTIN ON GO (c, 2, Brody's Cause--Set'n On Ready {SP}, by More Than Ready) stormed to the lead with an eye-catching move in deep stretch to graduate on debut and become the third winner for his freshman sire (by Giant's Causeway). The chestnut, half of the 8-5 entry, settled well off the pace as Lock Up (Maclean's Music) looked to take them wire-to-wire. Sittin on Go made rapid progress on the turn along the rail, tipped out for running room at midstretch...

Inject (f, 2, Frosted--Appealing Zophie, by Successful Appeal), a half-sister to GI Belmont S. hero Tapwrit (Tapit), became the first winner for her freshman sire (by Tapit) with a runaway 'TDN Rising Star' performance at Ellis Park Saturday. The 7-1 chance chased in second as Quick Munny (Munnings), drawn widest in post 10, sped through an opening quarter in :22.69. Inject, a $390,000 KEESEP yearling graduate, cruised up alongside that one at the top of the stretch and turned on the burners down the lane to graduate in style by...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 2nd-MTH, $47.5K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, post time: 1:15 p.m. ET St Elias Stables and West Point Thoroughbreds homebred Graceful Fancy (Liam's Map) is out of the super-talented Icon Project (Empire Maker), who earned a gaudy 114 Beyer Speed Figure for a 13 1/2-length romp in the 2009 GI Personal Ensign S. at Saratoga. Already the dam of Grade II winner Fashion Business (GB) (Frankel {GB}), Icon Project was a 1.45-million gns RNA in foal to Dubawi (Ire) at the 2015 Tattersalls December Mare...

Paul Sharp thought he had a good group of 2-year-olds at his farm over the winter and those trainees are proving the Ocala horseman right with a string of five maiden winners in the last five days, plus two graded stakes placings at Del Mar and Saratoga. "It always gives us a lot of gratification when these horses go on to win," Sharp said Wednesday, shortly after Ava's Grace (Laoban)'s third-place finish in the GII Adirondack S. at Saratoga. "They can win first or second time out and usually the...

Gerry Sandin, who grew up near Bay Meadows Racetrack and played Little League with future trainer Bill Morey, always knew he wanted to own racehorses one day. The California native finally made the dream a reality when he purchased a son of Curlin at the OBS March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale this year and he was cheering the colt on from his Bay Area home when Pico d'Oro became his first winner while breaking his maiden in stakes company in the Runhappy Juvenile S. at Ellis Park Sunday. "That was...