Wagering up 9.23 percent despite rain-ravaged July

An Ellis Park meet that had high expectations more than lived up to the hopes of what enhanced purses would do for the racing quality, and subsequently for betting and fan appeal.

“From my standpoint, the racing was the best since I’ve been here — by far,” said racing secretary Dan Bork, completing his 10th year at the track. “We had more quality with the 2-year-olds and older horses and had some really great races. It just shows you what can happen if we have the right purse structure. It was by far the best jockey colony, best trainers we’ve had here.”

Rallying from a devastating hit in July from record rainfall, overall betting on the 30-date meet was up 9.23 percent over 2015, totaling $35,287,952.95 compared with $32,305,180.27 last year. On-track wagering — more sensitive to weather extremes and other variables — totaled $4,670,067.20, down 3.60 percent (from $4,844,528.30 last year).

The deluges caused the cancellation of the popular July 4 card, as well as the final two races on the July 29 program and forced racing off the turf on four of 14 racing days. Adding to the ferocious obstacles showered down by Mother Nature, construction on the Ohio River bridge  the second weekend in August backed up traffic for miles on U.S. 41, the major artery in front of the track.

In spite of the challenges, the 2016 Ellis Park meet by all accounts was an esthetic home run. With Kentucky Downs contributing $1.35 million to Ellis’ purse account and the increasing money generated from historical horse racing gaming terminals, purses were up 25 percent to average $197,000 a day. Kentucky horsemen responded in full force, resulting in 57 maiden special-weight races (31 for 2-year-olds) and 40 allowance races with mostly good-sized fields.

The five stakes races, though not at the purse level Ellis hopes to be in the future, attracted competitive fields, including Grade 2 winner Pleuven taking Monday’s closing-day Cliff Guilliams Handicap. Godolphin Racing’s Innovative Ideal captured the Grade 3 Groupie Doll, Marylou Whitney Stable’s Gorgeous Bird took the Don Bernhardt, Sweet Acclaim prevailed in the Ellis Park Turf and Lookin At Lee narrowly won the revived Ellis Park Juvenile over the exciting filly Caroline Test.

Meanwhile, some of the allowance races rivaled graded stakes, including one Aug. 5 taken by millionaire Rise Up, with five of the seven starters being stakes-winners.

“It was a monster meet,” said Henderson product John Hancock, a third-generation trainer at Ellis Park. “It will go down if not the best then one of the best in the history of Ellis Park. If we hadn’t lost those turf races in July, where the fields were shorter, there’s no telling what the numbers would have been. Because the numbers were so good in August. The patrons really backed it. Everybody showed up.”

Even with legendary track superintendent Glenn Thompson’s yeoman’s efforts, the record 10.24 inches of rain in July — the wettest July in the 121 years of record-keeping and 2 1/2 times the average — took a toll the first half of the meet. There were 103 scratches in races taken off the turf, a total almost double from the prior July, which had the third-highest recorded rainfall at 7.99 inches. But all-sources wagering shot up amid the better August weather, with the exception of a couple of days when the heat index reached 108.

Even with the off-turf scratches, field sizes averaged 8.1 horses per race, down slightly from last year’s 8.3.

“We budgeted to be up 13 percent, and we would have blown them out if it hadn’t been for all that rain,” Geary said. “All our work to get our purse money up definitely attracted the horses and helped our handle. If it hadn’t been for the largest amount of rain in 121 years, we would have had a great, great meet. It was still very good.

“Clearly we’re on an upward trend. You look at the trainers we attracted, the riders here, great purse money, great horses and a lot of horses per race. We’ve got four or five horses that could wind up in the Kentucky Derby who ran here. Showing the quality of the racing at Ellis, four of the 10 winners running for the record purses on Kentucky Downs’ opening card made their prior start here.”

Jockeys repeatedly said that riding at Ellis was like a working vacation, that they enjoy the set-up that lets riders be outdoors right by the saddling area, also allowing close interaction with the many fans hugging the paddock rail.

Robby Albarado, rider of Horses of the Year Mineshaft and Curlin and the second-winningest jockey in stakes races at Churchill Downs and third all-time in wins, was more than satisfied to make Ellis his summer riding base while also shipping around for out-of-town stakes. He proved correct in his belief that he could land on a promising 2-year-old as easily here as at Saratoga, getting on the colt Not This Time (a dazzling 10-length winner) and the filly Sully’s Dream (who won by 12).

“Even jokingly with my friends, I told them, ‘It’s not Ellis Park anymore. It’s Saratoga South. We changed the name,’” the Louisville resident said. “Because I rode horses this meet who could have competed at Saratoga, I thought they were that nice. I think both of them can win stakes next time and will validate how nice they are with their progression.

“I’ve got a new baby, my family is here. It’s worked out great, with Louisville as the base. You can go North, East, West, wherever you want to go. The bad part is, I think you’ll see more jockeys wanting to stay here,” Albarado said, adding with a laugh. “And it will be tougher and tougher.”

It also was an extremely safe meet for horses and humans.

“The foundation of a successful meet is the safety and consistency of the track surface,” Bork said. “We actually had top trainers move outfits to Ellis Park because of our surface. And that’s a testament to the hard work and dedication of Glenn Thompson.”

Said Dr. Bruce Howard, chief state veterinarian for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission: “We were very pleased with the meet and the racing and training surface. I think the trainers and riders were happy with it as well.”

The competition among the jockeys lived up to advance billing and made for terrific betting, with 11-time Churchill Downs champion Corey Lanerie pulling away late to earn his third Ellis title with 26 victories, with nine others having double-digit wins. Steve Asmussen, who made a last-minute decision to move his Indiana Grand division to Ellis, sent out 73 horses and won 16 races to take the trainer’s title. Twelve others won at least five races. Chester Thomas’ Allied Racing captured its first owner’s title outright and second overall with six victories.

Ellis added a paddock analyst in Megan Devine, who teamed with insightful announcer Jimmy McNerney on the Saturday morning handicapping seminars. The ostrich and camel races and the wiener-dog races again attracted big crowds, as did the return of Dollar Days on Sundays. “Making of a Racehorse,” a free weekly Saturday morning fan experience that began July 30 as a collaboration between Ellis Park and the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, proved a hit, providing a behind-the-scenes look at getting horses to the races and the industry’s inner-workings.

In addition to racing, gambling on historical horse racing terminals, which is pari-mutuel in nature while providing another gaming experience, has been on an upward trajectory, adding to Ellis purses as well as to purse supplements to Kentucky-bred and sired horses through the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund and to the state’s General Fund.

The gaming terminals’ play has increased every month this year, from $5.24 million in January to $8.19 million in August, with Ellis up 51 percent over the corresponding timeframe from last year. The $56 million bet on historical horse racing the first eight months in August already is more than double what was bet for the entire year in 2013, the first full year of play.

Geary said the track will add to its 179 current historical horse racing terminals in January. “By next meet we’ll be at 300,” he said.