Tobacco Road following path of Lookin At Lee: Fifth in debut, win at Ellis, Ellis Park Juvenile up

In a field of well-intended 2-year-olds, Tobacco Road smoked his competition, drawing off from front-running Mr. Ankeny for a three-length victory Sunday at Ellis Park.

Tobacco Road still has a long way to go to merit real comparison to Lookin At Lee, who finished second in the 2017 Kentucky Derby and has earned $1,137,245. But both horses are owned by the L and N Racing partnership headed by Lee Levinson and trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. Both finished fifth in their debuts at Churchill Downs and then won at Ellis Park in their second start. Trainer Steve Asmussen confirmed in a text that Tobacco Road will try to keep up the parallels by running in the $75,000 Ellis Park Juvenile on Aug. 19, a race Lookin At Lee won two years ago.

“You never know with these 2-year-olds coming up,” said jockey Corey Lanerie, who rode Lookin At Lee in the Kentucky Derby and was aboard Tobacco Road. “As soon as I put the colors on, I realized who it was for, Lookin At Lee’s owners. I went out there and rode him with a lot of confidence and liked the way he did it. So you never know.”

Tobacco Road, a son of Quality Road, covered seven furlongs in 1:24.28 and paid $11 as the third choice.

“He broke really sharp, put me in a good spot and just kind of stalked the speed,” Lanerie said. “I thought they went a little quick up front, and when I called on him, he was ready to go.”

“I think he liked the seven furlongs a little bit more than the six at Churchill Downs,” said Mitch Dennison, who oversees Asmussen’s Ellis Park division. “He was a little bit sharper. He’s had a couple of breezes here at Ellis and I was pretty happy with his performance today. I liked him. As far as his breezes, he’s always galloped-out well and gone in company and been very competitive.”

Mr. Ankeny, who was third in his debut at Churchill Downs, comes from the team of owner Dennis Albaugh, trainer Dale Romans and jockey Robby Albarado who won last year’s Ellis Park Juvenile with Dak Attack.

The late-running first-time starter Napoleon’s Empire, ridden by James Graham for trainer Tom Amoss, came in another 2 1/2 lengths back in third in the field of 10. Finishing sixth after pressing the resolute early pace set by Mr. Ankeny was the Ben Colebrook-trained Wrath, the Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider runner who had been second at Belmont Park in his debut. It’s reasonable to assume a big effort was expected of Wrath, with Claiborne Farm master Seth Hancock coming over from Paris, Ky., for the race.

While Tobacco Road was a private purchase, he failed to sell as a Keeneland September yearling, getting a high bid of $35,000. Similarly, Lookin At Lee was bought for a relatively inexpensive $70,000 at Keeneland’s yearling sale.

After starting off the meet 2 for 37, Asmussen’s Ellis Park runners kicked in Sunday, with two wins and three seconds out of five starters on the card. He’s now tied for fourth in the standings with Greg Foley at five victories each, trailing only Brad Cox (10 wins), Ian Wilkes (seven) and John Hancock (six).

“We hope to keep it going and catch up with Brad Cox,” Dennison said.

Racing resumes Friday with ESPN V Day, featuring Bob Valvano and Mike Pratt broadcasting live from the track their popular Fast Break Friday Radio show that airs on the ESPN Louisville and Lexington radio stations. The afternoon features two silent auctions, one strictly online through WinningCause.org and one available only on track, of sports memorabilia and experiences, as well as raffle items. All proceeds will go to cancer research through the Kentuckiana Friends of V, which is closely aligned with the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. Included will be funds earmarked for breast-cancer research in memory of Shantel Lanerie, Corey Lanerie’s wife who died June 22.

The Evansville Otters, University of Evansville and Kentucky Wesleyan also are participating, with more details available in the coming days on Ellis Park’s Facebook page and Twitter.

Saturday features the first two qualifying heats for the fan-favorite wiener-dog races, with two more qualifiers on Aug. 11 and the semifinals and Wiener Dog Derby on Aug. 25.

Sunday, Aug. 5, promises to be one of the best days of racing in Ellis Park history with Kentucky Downs Preview Day: four $100,000 turf stakes funded by Kentucky Downs and designed as launching pads to that track’s corresponding stakes in September.