After Ralph Ebert’s 2-year-old filly Sully’s Dream led virtually all the way to win a mile maiden race by 12 lengths over Radiantrithym at Ellis Park, jockey Robby Albarado told trainer Kellyn Gorder, “She’s the kind you make plans for.”

“Very nice, a lot to like, smart, fast, bred to run all day,” Albarado said later.

On top of it, Sully’s Dream was unfazed by the massive presentation for the race named to honor Ronnie Marable, a popular horse owner and racing fan from Henderson who died earlier this month. There were so many people that the presentation was made on the track instead of in the traditional winner’s circle.

“It was like a Grade 1 crowd there,” Albarado said after winning his second of three races Saturday, which extended his meet lead to 13 victories.

Even before the race, Gorder was saying that Sully’s Dream was the best filly he’d ever trained.

“I said that two works ago,” said Gorder, who thought so much of the then- unraced filly that he nominated her to the Aug. 6 Ellis Park Juvenile against colts.

Sully’s Dream was entered for Saturday’s race as “main track only,” running when the races were taken off the turf because of torrential rain Friday.

“I love the track here, the mile distance was good,” the Lexington-based Gorder said. “I thought I was going to have to wait 2 1/2 more weeks until a 6 1/2-furlong race, but then I saw this turf race and put her in ‘main track only’ and got lucky.”

Sully’s Dream, a daughter of Travers winner Colonel John, covered the mile in 1:37.76 and paid $7.60 to win as the favorite in the field of 12.

Asked what might be next, Gorder said, in acknowledgement that impressive 2- year-old winners inevitably have people trying to buy them for big money, “The toughest thing for me will be keeping her in the barn.”

Gorder said Sully’s Dream is the complete package. “It’s everything: Her size, her mind, her stride, she’s pretty cool mentally — she’s fast,” he said. “She’s outworked older horses; she’s outworked young horses.”

Flatlined romps in off-the-turf allowance feature

In the $40,000 second-level allowance feature also taken off the grass, Flatlined led all the way in the field of four to prevail by 6 1/4 lengths over Paternal Pride.

Flatlined – owned by Brian Hytrek, Rodney Paden and Ryan Kuhn — was a close sixth in Churchill Downs’ Grade 2 Wise Dan June 18 in his last start. The son of the Claiborne Farm stallion Flatter came in with a 2-2-1 record in six turf starts and only had a third in six dirt starts. But Louisville-based trainer Scooter Dickey said he was fine with the race being on dirt.

“The only bad race he ever ran was in the slop, but he was green and didn’t know what it was hitting him,” Dickey said. “ But he’s always worked just as good on dirt as the grass. It didn’t matter. We’ll look for a little stakes for him somewhere.”

“He’s a very nice horse,” said winning jockey Miguel Mena. “He ran a very good race last time, in a pretty tough field and he still ran a 92 Beyer (speed figure), which is pretty good. He caught some nice horses that day. Scooter wouldn’t run a horse on the dirt unless he thought he was going to be OK. He’s just a nice horse; he’ll run on anything.”

Saturday morning fan experience to continue through August

Because of the turnout and enthusiastic reception to Ellis Park’s initial “Making of a Racehorse: Let’s get started!,” the fan experience will continue each Saturday through August. The program, held in collaboration with the Kentucky division of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, will start each Saturday at 7:30 AM Central by the starting gate in the track’s mile chute, which is located by the southern part of the parking lot by the Ohio River levee. The free event is open to all ages and will include a visit to the barn area, with the

program varying each week to bring in an additional behind-the-scenes experience.

About 30 people attended Saturday’s pilot session. Starter Scott Jordan described the procedure by which horses learn to break from the starting gate. Trainer John Hancock headed a lively conversation by his barn, and jockey Didiel Osorio thrilled the crowd by giving out autographed goggles while he and his agent, Joe Santos, talked about their racing professions.

“I thought for the first Saturday, it went above and beyond,” said Hancock, the HBPA board member who championed the idea and told the first attendees to spread the word. “I thought it was a good crowd, a very instructive crowd. They asked a lot of questions and got the answers they wanted. I think if we can take it and move forward with it, then we can really educate the people around here with what really happens.”

Melons for a cause at the Pea Patch

Talk about a slice of Americana! Ellis Park is famous for its infield cash crop of soybeans, giving it the name the Pea Patch. But also playing to its agricultural heritage is the tradition of prominent Poseyville, Ind., farmer and horse owner Harley Frey bringing truck loads of melons to Ellis. Flatbed trucks hauled a variety of melons to Ellis as part of Saturday’s Permanently Disabled Jockeys’ Fund Day. Fans make a donation and take a melon on their way out of the track, which has proven a fairly lucrative fund-raiser.

Anything left over will be given away on Sunday’s Military Appreciation Day, Frey said. He also is involved with donations for Ellis’ Racetrack Chaplaincy Program.

“I’ve been a long-time fan, and I like to help the racing industry,” said Frey, who said he has about 15 horses in training with Randy Klopp and Anthony Granitz. “We have large chain customers – Whole Foods, Publix, Trader Joe’s, WalMart, Sam’s Club – we’ll have a plethora of leftovers that don’t meet specific USDA guidelines and stuff. We give it to food banks and associations like Ellis Park.”

The family-owned, multi-state Frey Farms also is the world’s largest producer of pumpkins with that operation largely based in Illinois.