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Ellis Park Press Release: Thirteen fillies and mares were entered Sunday for Saturday’s $100,000, Grade 3 Groupie Doll Stakes at Ellis Park. Ahh Chocolate, Stoneway Farm’s multiple graded-stakes winner and the likely favorite, drew post 6 and will be ridden for the first time by Chris Landeros, with Brian Hernandez Jr. riding that day at Mountaineer Park’s stakes-laden card.
The field is limited to 12, with Churchill Downs allowance winner Improv needing a scratch to run, with preference given to the horses with the most earnings in 2015-’16. Others in the face include Fioretti, last year’s Groupie Doll runner-up and winner of Keeneland’s Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America; Godolphin Racing’s Iowa Distaff winner Innovative Idea, shipping in from Chicago; Churchill’s Roxelana winner Athena, who is expected to be cross-entered in a stakes at Mountaineer; and Engaginglee, second in Churchill’s Grade 1 LaTroienne and third in the G2 Fleur de Lis.
Brooklynsway, winner of Indiana Grand’s Mari Hulman George by 8 1/2 lengths, had been considered likely for the Groupie Doll, but trainer Bernie Flint elected to take a pass.
The field for the mile stakes, in post position order and with rider/trainer:
1. Innovative Idea, Jon Court/Eoin Harty
2. Crown D’ Oro, James Graham/Buff Bradley
3. Athena, Joe Johnson/Helen Pitts
4. Emmajestic, Sophie Doyle/Michelle Lovell
5. Engaginglee, Jesus Castanon/Dale Romans
6. Ahh Chocolate, Chris Landeros/Neil Howard
7. Pangburn, Albin Jimenez/William VanMeter
8. You Bought Her, Francisco Torres/David Hinsley
9. Conquest Curlgirl, Marlon St. Julien/Mark Casse
10. Kathballu, Didiel Osorio/Kenny McPeek
11. Academic Break, Helen Pitts-Blasi/Leandro Goncalves
12. Fioretti, Antioco Murgia/Anthony Hamilton.
Also eligible:
13. Improv, Jon Court/Rusty Arnold
The $75,000 Ellis Park Juvenile, a seven-eighths of a mile stakes brought back after several years in hiatus, attracted a field of six 2-year-olds. The field in post position order and with rider/trainer:
1. Decaro, Javier Tavarres/Dennis Hughes
2. Cardinal Sin, Jesus Castanon/Mike Maker
3. Honor Thy Father, James Graham/Kenny McPeek
4. Sobrino, Leandro Goncalves/Genaro Garcia
5. Lookin At Lee, Albin Jimenez/Steve Asmussen
6. Caroline Test, Jon Court/Ben Colebrook.
Caroline Test is a filly that won her off-turf debut at Ellis by 4 1/4 lengths at 14-1.
Kenny McPeek will be well represented in both stakes, with the hard-knocking Kathballu in the $100,000, Grade 3 Groupie Doll and Honor Thy Father looming as a strong favorite in the reconstituted $75,000 Ellis Park Juvenile.
Kathballu is among what could be a full starting gate of 12 fillies and mares in Ellis’ signature race. She’s a two-time allowance winner who is multiple graded stakes-place and rarely runs a bad race. And she’s run against some of the best fillies on the top of their game.
“She’s a good filly,” McPeek said. “I think a mile is stretching it with her. But I think this is a really good spot. I’ve won this race a couple of times, and I think she fits really well. She’s got tactical speed… She’s doing great. Her race in Chicago was really good. I think she’s doing better than ever right now, too. I think she’s bigger and stronger as a 4-year-old than when she was 3.”
Honor Thy Father was a most-impressive winner of a mile maiden race taken off the turf July 8. As McPeek frequently does, he was running Honor Thy Father in the turf race not for the surface but to get the distance. The result was a 9 3/4-length romp.
“He could be any kind of horse,” McPeek said. “He wants more distance. I’m a little leery cutting him back to seven-eighths. If runs well and this doesn’t take too much out of him, we’ll entertain (Saratoga’s) Hopeful or just wait for the stakes at Churchill. But he needs to jump through this hoop and prove he can handle this. It’s a good spot for him, timing-wise.”
McPeek said Honor Thy Father, from Gainesway Farm’s first-crop stallion To Honor and Serve, is the first horse for owner Paul Fireman’s Fern Circle Stables.
“I think he’s got an opportunity to reach any level,” McPeek said. “It’s the first winner for him. I think you’ll be hearing a lot out of Mr. Fireman’s horses in the next couple, three years. He’s getting actively involved, and we’d like to win our first stakes for him. This was his first starter.”
Honor Thy Father cost $250,000 . “He was a real standout, one of the later sessions at Keeneland September,” McPeek said of Keeneland’s famed yearling sale. “I think the sire has a chance to be a top stallion, and he’s out of a Distorted Humor mare, and you can’t go wrong there either. As a physical specimen, he’s got all the right parts in the right places. He seems to have the mind for it, too.”
James Graham, who rode Honor Thy Father when he was sixth in his debut sprinting, regains the mount with Corey Lanerie, who was aboard in his victory, riding that day in West Virginia.
Also riding on West Virginia’s stakes-fattened card, which includes the $750,000 West Virginia Derby, are Ellis meet-leading rider Robby Albarado, second-place Brian Hernandez Jr., Miguel Mena, Channing Hill and Declan Cannon. Joe Rocco will be riding at Louisiana Downs.
John Ed Anthony’s 4-year-old mare Pangburn will be running for two in the Groupie Doll. The daughter of Congrats who won a small stakes at Laurel in February and was third in another at Aqueduct before being bred to the WinStar Farm stallion Bodemeister, the very fast winner of the 2012 Arkansas Derby and second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. She resumed racing when fifth in Belmont’s Grade 3 Bed O’ Roses. Turned over to trainer William VanMeter, Pangburn finished second to the red-hot Brooklynsway in Indiana Grand’s $100,000 Mari Hulman George.
“They’re going to run her one last time and retire her whether she wins or loses,” VanMeter said. “She ran seven-eighths first time back after they sent her home. She probably needed the race, so she had it under her belt coming into the Indiana Grand race. She ran really well, second to Bernie Flint’s filly, who obviously is very nice. And she’s training really well coming out of that race.”
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