Champagne Problems breaks through in Groupie Doll at Ellis Park
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Photo:
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Calvin Borel teamed with trainer Ian Wilkes to capture Ellis Park’s signature race as Champagne Problems powered to a 3 1/4-length victory over front-running favorite Sense of Bravery in Sunday’s $100,000, Grade 3 Groupie Doll Stakes.
Pinch Hit, the 2-1 program favorite who wound up second choice behind her Brad Cox-trained stablemate Sense of Bravery, finished another half-length back in third in the field of 10 fillies and mares, with Dutch Parrot scratched.
A race earlier, trainer Larry Jones — the Hopkinsville product who launched his training career at Ellis Park, returning with a division this summer after being on the East Coast for a decade — finished 1-2 in the new $75,000 Ellis Park Derby with Believe in Royalty edging Kowboy Karma by a half-length.
The 4-year-old Champagne Problems earned her first stakes victory of any kind in her 18th career start, though she was second by a neck in Churchill Downs’ Dogwood won by Pinch Hit last fall and fourth in the Fair Grounds’ Tiffany Lass won by the talented Valadorna in her only prior stakes appearances.
“The filly always had talent,” said Borel, the Hall of Fame jockey and three-time Kentucky Derby winner. “I’ve got to give credit to Ian for getting her ready for this race. We’ve been pointing her for this the last couple of races, and she’s just getting better and better… We had to spend a lot of time with her, get her head right, do a lot of work with her.”
Breaking from post 3, Champagne Problems saved ground on the rail under Borel until the quarter pole, when he was able to get her to the outside for her attack on the leaders. At the eighth-pole, Champagne Problems had only Sense of Bravery to reel in, which she did with authority while covering the mile in 1:36.74 and paying $10 to win as third choice in wagering.
“Actually today she wasn’t really traveling that good down the backside,” Borel said. “She’ll run on the inside of horses, but she’s not comfortable. But I was still picking up horses and I was just waiting for the time to come to get out and let her run and do her thing. I just let her run about the last eighth-mile today. She’s improving a lot.
“She was really, really nervous,” Borel said of the work they had to do with Champagne Problems. “We just took our time, teaching her how to take back and relax and turn off. Because we always thought she had talent from Day One. She’s starting to put it together right now. She did it with real authority, and they weren’t going that fast. It was just a matter of me finding a spot to go. Like I say, she’ll run inside of horses. But when I can ease out, she’s a little bit better horse.”
Sense of Bravery, breaking on the rail, set a sensible pace under jockey Fernando De La Cruz.
“She got tired a little bit,” De La Cruz said. “She just took me right to the lead, but she just got tired. She’s only a 3-year-old. She’s still learning.”
Pinch Hit, fourth in last year’s Groupie Doll as a 3-year-old, was among those pushing the pace after breaking from post 9 out of the mile chute going onto the first turn that makes the race essentially 1 1/2 turns.
“She tries. She gave it her all,” said her jockey, Shaun Bridgmohan. “I thought down the lane she would kick a little harder for me, but she was up on the pace, too. I just rode her accordingly. From the outside post, I knew I had to get position with her, so I let her run to get some kind of position before I took a hold of her. When I saw what was going on, I kind of got a hold of her hoping she’d relax a little bit and punch home.”
Champagne Problems was coming off a Churchill Downs allowance victory over Pinch Hit in their last start. They have met four times, with the record now 2-2. Pinch Hit went on to win Indiana Grand’s $100,000 Mari Hulman George, while Wilkes opted to wait for the Groupie Doll.
“She used to be really nervous, tough to saddle, and she really has gotten into a nice niche lately,” Wilkes said by phone from Saratoga Springs, N.Y. “We’ve eyed this Groupie Doll for a while because of the Grade 3 status with it. It really helps enhance her value. We’ve been planning for this about three or four races back. I told Calvin, ‘Everything we do is for the Groupie Doll.’ Sometimes a plan comes off.
“I could have run her back at Indiana Grand with Pinch Hit, but then I’d be wheeling her back. She’s not a big, robust filly. She’s a little lighter filly, but she’s developing. I just felt that in her best interest was that once she won the allowance race and she beat Pinch Hit that I’d come back and run her straight into the Groupie Doll. It was six or seven weeks, so that was fine.”
Champagne Problems was sired by 2004 Horse of the Year and popular stallion Ghostzapper and is out of a mare (Coral Sun) by 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy. Champagne Problems now is 5-3-4 in 18 starts, earning $261,089 with the $58,900 payday for owners Brad Stephens’ Six Column Stables, Randy Bloch, John Seiler, Fred Merritt and David Hall. But with that pedigree, winning a graded stakes is worth far more than the purse for her value as a broodmare.
“It’s pretty special to win a graded stakes race,” said Bloch, who is from Louisville. “With these kinds of trainers in here, the competition, the quality of horses, it’s just pretty special. So we’re pretty excited and elated about it. Like Calvin said, she’s getting better and better along the way. We were all watching together and we weren’t sure she was going to get there. But Calvin got her outside and she just took off. Credit to Ian for getting her ready, but she keeps improving. I don’t know where we go from here. But we love being in this position.”
The last time Borel and Wilkes teamed to win a graded stakes was 2011, when Motor City took Churchill Downs’ Iroquois. But the men have a long association. Wilkes was in the process of taking over mentor Carl Nafzger’s stable when the barn had Street Sense, the 2006 2-year-old champion and 2007 Kentucky Derby winner ridden by Borel.
“What Calvin has done to start my career is priceless,” Wilkes said. “He was one of the instrumental riders, back when I was working for Carl. Calvin was a huge part of everything in developing horses. Calvin can still ride. If you get him on the right stock, he’s as good as anyone out there.”
It was an emotional winner’s circle, including Cecil Borel, the long-time trainer who basically raised his little brother Calvin, visiting from Louisiana. Cecil Borel’s last start as a trainer was Aug. 10, 2014, at Ellis Park, after which he retired to spend all his time with his wife, Debbie, who died less than five months later after a long battle with cancer.
Cecil, carrying Calvin’s young son Chase, was in near tears afterward, saying, “And guess what? It’s Debbie’s birthday today.”
Said Calvin Borel: “This is great. The kids are here now. I’ve got a family. It’s unbelievable to win a stakes like this for Ian Wilkes. I think you’re going to see a lot better things from this filly.”
Pacific Pink, Minds and Magic, Torrent, Honey Bunny, Dorodansa, Misleading Lady and Jenda's Agenda completed the order of finish.
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