Arnold Gets Off To Fast Start; Red-Hot McPeek’s Ellis Juvenile Entrant To Be Determined

Trainer Rusty Arnold got off to a great start at Ellis Park, winning a $40,000 maiden turf race with Calumet Farm’s 3-year-old filly English Affair and a $41,000 allowance race on grass with Preston Madden’s Derby Champagne on Saturday’s opening card.

Arnold trained English Affair’s mom, the talented Lady Melesi. The trainer particularly remembers Lady Melesi narrowly losing in Churchill Downs’ Dogwood Stakes 17 years ago. As noted in the official Equibase race chart, the stakes wound up being hand-timed and the chart-callers were the ones determining the margins and order of finish. Arnold recalls that the photo-finish operator had a heart attack, and there was never a picture to determine the outcome. (As an aside, finishing sixth in that Dogwood was Spain, who later at 56-1 odds would win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff).

“That’s how far back I go with the filly,” Arnold said. “Then Watts ended up selling Lady Melesi years ago, and one of the group of babies that Calumet sent me two years ago was this baby by English Channel out of Lady Melesi. Just coincidence.”

“She was a little slow to come around,” Arnold said. “We ran her at Belterra first time out because we wanted to get her off to a good start. It came off the turf; we ran her anyway, and she ran pretty good and got some education. Ran back at Indiana and had kind of second-start-itis. She didn’t want to load, threw a little fit in the gate, got way back and came running. I was really impressed with her (at Ellis). She was kind of in trouble down on the rail. Didn’t have a place to go, switched to the outside and finished up and finished really strong. She’s a typical English Channel — she’s going to get better with age. We think she’s got a future. She’s made huge strides.”

Two races later, Arnold and jockey Brian Hernandez teamed again to win the entry-level allowance feature with Derby Champagne. That gelding is one of three horses Arnold trains for Madden, the master of historic Hamburg Place whose grandfather was the legendary John E. Madden, breeder, owner and trainer of Derby winners around the turn of the 20th century.

“We’ve a couple of 2-year-olds for him that we really like, a Blame and an Uncle Mo,” Arnold said. “They’re not close to the races yet. But he called me like a year ago, and this was the first horse I ever had for him. That was a pretty solid race at Ellis Park — it wasn’t the old easy place to go. Pretty good bunch. I think you’ll see that with the money being added down there.”

Trainer Kenny McPeek does not plan to run Friday night’s Bashford Manor winner Ten City or Debutante heroine Sunny Skies back in the 2-year-old stakes at Ellis Park on Aug. 20. But that doesn’t mean McPeek won’t have horses in the $75,000 Ellis Park Juvenile and Debutante.

While Ten City and Sunny Skies are expected to train up to the 1 1/16-mile Iroquois and Pocahontas at Churchill Downs’ September meet, McPeek said he’s got more youngsters in the barn to put on display.

“I’ve got some others that can run in those races anyway,” he said by phone of the Ellis races. “I’ve got a bunch of 2-year-olds that are going to run in the next few days and weeks. I’ll end up having something for them, but it’s a matter of which one.”

Of Ten City, McPeek said, “He might be the best horse I’ve ever had my hands on. He does everything, goes out like a 5-year-old already. So it’s pretty easy to get excited about him. What I don’t want to do is beat him up over the summer and run in blistering heat. I want to keep him under wraps for a little while.”

McPeek runs a pair of 2-year-olds in Tuesday’s maiden race at a mile on turf, carded as the fifth race (post time 2:42 p.m. Central). It’s a formula he’s long used at Ellis, wanting the longer distance rather than looking for grass. Rushin Tothecircle ran once at Churchill, going five-eighths on dirt, breaking slowly and finishing last to the ultra-impressive Copper Bullet, the Bashford Manor runner-up. Eclipsed Moon is a $400,000 yearling making his debut off some impressive works at Keeneland.

“As far as the group as a whole, yes, it’s exceptional,” McPeek said of his 2-year-old crop. “It will still be later in the year when they’re all ready.”

McPeek knows well how tough a maiden race at Ellis can be. He was sixth in a mile dirt race last August with Senior Investment, who this year won Keeneland’s Grade 3 Stonestreet Lexington Stakes before taking third in the Preakness. The 10-length winner in that maiden race was Not This Time, who in his next two starts won Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Iroquois by 8 3/4 lengths and narrowly lost the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Jockey Robby Albarado not only won both 2-year-old stakes Friday at Churchill but swept the card’s third stakes with the Ben Colebrook-trained bourgeoning sprint star Limousine Liberal taking the Kelly’s Landing. In addition to McPeek’s treasure trove, Albarado also rides some very promising 2-year-olds for trainer Dale Romans, the pair teaming to win a maiden race by 10 lengths at Ellis last summer with Not This Time.

“I’ve got quite a few of them,” Albarado said. “It’s promising to have these 2-year-olds for the future. Kenny’s 2-year-olds were impressive. And Limousine Liberal, in an overnight handicap, not to be disrespectful of anyone but it was a breath of fresh air for him (versus graded stakes). It was nice to do it on that stage, the last night of racing.”

Winning will make a person forget the weather. And in between the Bashford Manor and Debutante, Churchill experienced an hour delay when a storm blew through. “What rain? I didn’t see any rain,” joked Albarado. “Actually I was worried about myself freezing up, my body freezing up. I stayed on the vibrating machine in the little workout room, kept stretching.”

At some point, Albarado’s 2-year-old mounts could stack up for the same race and decisions will have to be made — a great problem to have for a rider. “By the time the route races come along in the fall, whether Keeneland’s Breeders’ Futurity or Churchill’s Iroquois, by then we’ll have a good line on who’s who,” he said. “First time out, all of them were impressive. I can’t split them.”

Total betting on Saturday’s opening card was $1,789,882 — up 62 percent over the $1,106,508 wagered on last year’s first day of racing. That breaks down to $232,276  bet on Ellis at Ellis (up 14 percent over 2016) and $1,557,715 bet off track on Ellis’ nine-race card (up 72 percent percent over last year’s $903,119). Another $300,993 was bet at Ellis on other racetracks, a number that does not show up in the all-sources total but which was up 10 percent, the track said.

“It was just a delightful and great day,” said track president Ron Geary. “We worked hard the whole year to get to this position. We launched a bunch of new things, the new video and tote board and a lot of interior improvements. We’re very excited. Obviously we got our purse money up, and that helps a lot. But I think our team executed quite well. We thought we’d have a good meet; this is certainly a good indicator. But we’ll see what happens in the next 30 race dates, see if it rains or anything like that.”

Jockey Franciso Torres just needs his surgeon’s clearance to resume getting on horses after sustaining a broken neck for the fourth time in his long career on March 28 in a spill at New Orleans’ Fair Grounds. He was supposed to meet with his Indianapolis surgeon on Wednesday, but said the doctor canceled because of a heavy surgery schedule and can’t fit him in until Aug. 1.

“I said, ‘Are you serious? That’s another month,’” said Torres, who was visiting Ellis Sunday. “Meanwhile, I emailed the surgeon in New Orleans (who did the actual surgery) to see if he can see me before Aug. 1. I’m waiting to hear back. If he’ll see me before Aug. 1, I’ll make a trip down there. But I think things happen for a reason. If he can’t see me, it’s another month I can heal. But, believe me, I am anxious to get back.”

Torres keeps a photo on his phone of the hardware in his neck — the latest being a titanium plate and eight screws. “The surgeon said, ‘Cisco, you’ll never break your neck again,’” he said.

He showed how he has maintained complete flexibility in his neck. “If you’d told me (before) that they’d fuse my neck (and he could continue riding), I’d have told you you’re a liar,” Torres said. “What hurt the most was my tailbone. I broke my tailbone also. That hurt for a good two months. I’m just getting over that now.”

Do you sing or know someone who does? Ellis Park is looking for talented singers to audition to sing the National Anthem for our live races this summer. To audition, email aerkman@ellisparkracing.com or call 812-435-8903.