Horses, Workers Arriving At Ellis Park Month Before Meet

HENDERSON, Ky. (Thursday, June 1, 2017) — Horses — and those who care for them — are steadily arriving at Ellis Park, a month in advance of the thoroughbred track’s July 1-Labor Day meet. J.J. Gloria, Ellis’ stall superintendent, says 180 already are on the grounds with scores more expected well before the  deluge that hits right on top of the summer racing season.

Expected soon are at least 48 horses trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, whose division stabled at Ellis Park last year included 2017 Kentucky Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee. That colt, who won a maiden race and the $75,000 Ellis Park Juvenile at the track, also finished fourth in the Preakness Stakes and will contest the June 10 Belmont Stakes, the Triple Crown’s finale.

“We definitely have more horses than at the same time last year, and we’re getting a lot more inquiries from all over, really,” said Gloria, who has worked at Ellis off and on for 28 years. “I get new calls every day. The purse money is right now, so it’s worth it for them to come. And this is the best racetrack surface in the world. Go anywhere and show me a better one.”

Trainers who for the first time will either have their entire stable or a division based at Ellis include Brad Cox, Randy Morse, Ingrid Mason, Jose Castanon and Chris Davis.

“Our enhanced purses have resonated with horsemen, and we expect to keep building on the memorable 2016 season,” said racing secretary Dan Bork.

That also included maiden wins by the Kenny McPeek-trained Kentucky Oaks runner-up Daddys Lil Darling, now in England for Friday’s Group 1 Investec Oaks at legendary Epsom Downs, and the Dale Romans-trained Not This Time, who fell a head shy of winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Some stall space remains available for stabling, Bork said. Here’s the Ellis Park condition book.

Ron Moquett was one of the first out-of-town horsemen to ship into Ellis, with about 35 horses. Among the 2-year-olds Moquett had training last summer at Ellis at some stage were future stakes-winner Uncontested and stakes-placed Petrov.

“The track is very kind here,” said Eddie Ruiz, a Moquett assistant who has trained on and off on his own. “Ron has confidence in the racetrack to bring those kinds of horses here. I watched Lookin At Lee run here, and (in 2015) Runhappy, who went on to be champion sprinter. You have good horses come here.”

Increased play on Historical Horse Racing terminals, the innovative parimutuel technology that provides a different gambling experience, and a $1.65 million transfer in purses and Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund purse supplements from Kentucky Downs will boost Ellis’ purses to record levels in the top-tier races. That includes maiden races carrying total purses of $40,000 for registered Kentucky-bred horses, which form the majority of those running.

“Obviously we need the stalls, but we’re going to support the racing,” said Cox, Ellis’ 2015 training champion whose horses currently rank No. 9 in North America in purse earnings ($3.4 million) and No. 10 in wins (79) in 2017. The purses are good, and we’ve had luck down there in some of the stakes the past couple of years. It seems like there are some quality baby races there. Dale has done a great job of preparing babies there and moving forward with them the second half of the year. You don’t have to go to Saratoga.”

John Hancock, a third-generation thoroughbred trainer from Henderson, predicted last year that Ellis Park would have its “meet of all meets.”

“And it was,” he said. “As good as last summer was, fans are in for a treat this year. There’s no doubt in my mind, with the caliber of horses and people coming, this will be even better.”

Hancock said one component is that Ellis’ local horsemen “have really stepped up” and that showed with horses who wintered at Henderson’s Riverside Downs training center winning seven races during Keeneland’s spring meet.

Hancock won five of those races, including with 2-year-old fillies Amberspatriot and Waki Patriot, who went on to be second (by a neck) and a troubled fourth, respectively, against boys in Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Juvenile. Now he’s looking at New York’s Astoria Stakes for them, while saying he has some other babies that might be as good or better and who likely will surface at Ellis.

Horses at Ellis Park mean an array of workers on the backstretch — people who will live and spend money in the area. Cox estimates his 30 horses to be stabled at the track will involve “15 or 16” employees. Hancock says he has 10 employees, not counting his heavily-involved family members, taking care of 30 horses. (Such jobs are lined up through individual stables and not the racetrack.)

“The horse industry here puts a lot of money in area farmers’ pockets,” Hancock said. “Feed companies, hay and straw. I bet that four months out of the year, Ellis Park is the biggest employer within 50-60 miles, with everybody who works in the industry, frontside and backside.”