Change in ownership brings 'notable' results to Ellis Park
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Photo:
Coady Photography
If Ellis Park got off to a slow start in the steamy days at the beginning of its 2018 live-racing season, the track found its best stride midway through the meet with strong crowds and wagering that created considerable optimism about the future.
That future began immediately after Monday’s closing card, with Ellis Park open year-round and seven days a week for wagering on tracks across the country and through its historical horse racing gaming operation. Both ventures generate purse money for the live meet.
Total wagering on the 2018 meet was $37,480,814, spread over 28 full days of racing and a 29th day that was canceled after two races because of excessive heat. A water main break forced cancelation of another day, Aug. 26. Even counting the two-race card as a full day, all-sources wagering on Ellis averaged $1,292,441 per card. That is slightly up from the $1,238,082 averaged last year.
While total wagering was down $899,735 over 2017, last year’s meet ran 31 days, with two cards abbreviated when storms caused flooding. More telling this year is the difference in wagering in July compared with the rest of the meet. Wagering in July totaled $17,572,654 for 14 days, picking up to $19,900,163 for the remaining 14 days, the increase coming almost exclusively from simulcast wagering.
“From a racing standpoint and fan support, the entire meet was fabulous,” said Ellis Park general manager Jeff Hall. “From an overall wagering standpoint, it was like two separate meets. With the sale of 100-percent interest to Saratoga Casino & Hospitality Group almost halfway through the meet, we increased advertising in the simulcast market and the results were notable.
“The last half of the summer wasn’t winding down a meet but, really, setting the groundwork for a superb 2019 racing season. We can’t wait to see everyone back here for racing next summer, but also want to remind people that we remain open as a year-round entertainment venue with simulcasting and historical horse racing.”
Ellis Park opened on July 1 amid extremely heat, including the forced cancelation after two races on July 5. On July 20, majority owner Ron Geary officially announced that he was selling his 70-percent stake in the track to Saratoga Casino & Hospitality Group, which bought 30-percent interest in Ellis Park in 2012 to provide the funding for launching the historical horse racing gaming operation. The transfer of complete ownership to Saratoga Casino & Hospitality Group was finalized on July 30.
“It was a meet that started off with a lot of uncertainty and at slow speed,” said trainer John Hancock, a third-generation horseman based at Ellis Park. “It steadily picked up and finished with a big flourish. Hopefully we do some things in the offseason for next summer, and go from there. We’re already starting the countdown to next year.”
August featured Ellis’ biggest days of racing, including the inaugural Kentucky Downs Preview Day, with four $100,000 turf stakes positioned as preps to Kentucky Downs’ lucrative meet. Those Aug. 5 stakes were funded as part of the $2.9 million that Kentucky Downs, in an arrangement with the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, transferred in purse money and Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund supplements to Ellis Park.
Those stakes were followed on successive Sundays by Groupie Doll Day, which included the Grade 3 Groupie Doll Stakes as well as the new Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 12, and a celebration of 2-year-olds with the Ellis Park Juvenile and Ellis Park Debutante on Aug. 19.
“The racing this meet was the best it’s ever been, and I think I’m safe saying the jockey colony is the strongest it’s ever been,” said racing secretary Dan Bork. “Our 2-year-old program, which has always been very good, is just getting stronger. We look forward to some of our young horses going on to the Breeders’ Cup and then onto Kentucky Derby and Oaks campaigns. I mean, how good might our Ellis Park Debutante winner, Serengeti Empress be? And it was gratifying to see some of our 2-year-olds go on to win at Saratoga and Del Mar.
“The inaugural Kentucky Downs Preview Day was a huge success and gave Kentucky another major day of racing in the summer. We’re looking to build on that next year as we work with Kentucky Downs and our partners in the Kentucky HBPA and the horsemen they represents.
“The meet could have been rocky, with first the rumors of a sale before we started racing and then the actual sale of the track mere weeks into the meet. But throughout, our horsemen supported our racing program and stuck with us, and we really had a strong second half of the meet.”
Purse money totaled $6,910,300, compared with $6,223,300 in 2017, when there were five more races. The importance of Ellis Park’s strategic relationship with Kentucky Downs, and how that track is working with its horsemen to benefit the entire circuit, is illustrated by the fact that 42 percent of Ellis purses this year came from the Kentucky Downs purse transfer. That figure was 26 percent last year.
Ellis Park ran a total of 251 races, averaging eight horses per race, down slightly from last year’s 8.2 starters per race. However, there were 10 stakes races this year, double in recent years. The track ran five more allowance races: 39 versus 34 last year.
“We can’t overstate the importance of Kentucky Downs to Ellis Park, and the importance of our strong partnership with the Kentucky HBPA and the horsemen at both tracks,” Hall said. “Kentucky Downs and the horsemen are doing their part, and we’re doubling-down in commitment to the renaissance of Ellis Park.
“We have a lot to look forward to, including our new director of sponsorships, Karen Krauskopf, who did amazing work developing partnerships with local businesses. I think you’ll see next year some new endeavors that our fans will love, including cross-promotions with our area professional sports franchises, the Evansville Otters baseball team and Thunderbolts hockey team.
“We certainly face challenges, but our Saratoga ownership has been most encouraging. It’s an exciting time at Ellis Park as we look to the future to further enhance our racing program as well as the on-track experience. We can’t thank enough our horsemen, our fans — both at the track and in the simulcast market — and the Tri-State communities for their support this summer.”
Among the highlights:
Brad Cox won his second training title with 22 victories, the most since Ralph Martinez also won 22 in 2007. Cox won three stakes: the $50,000 Good Lord with Majestic Affair and the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Tourist Mile with Mr. Misunderstood and $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Calumet Farm Turf Cup with Arklow. All were ridden by Shaun Bridgmohan.
Long-time Henderson resident Larry Jones, back stabled at Ellis Park after almost a decade on the East Coast, finished 1-2 the inaugural $75,000 Ellis Park Derby with Believe in Royalty edging stablemate Kowboy Karma.
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen finished 1-2 in the $75,000 Ellis Park Juvenile with victorious Tobacco Road and Whiskey Echo.
Champagne Problems captured the Groupie Doll Stakes for trainer Ian Wilkes and three-time Kentucky Derby winning-jockey Calvin Borel. Wilkes also won the $50,000 Ellis Park Turf with Bonnie Arch, ridden by Chris Landeros, the trainer’s son in law.
Corey Lanerie won his fifth Ellis riding title and third straight with 30 victories, including the Ellis Park Juvenile and the Ellis Park Debutante with the Tom Amoss-trained Serengeti Empress. Making the title more poignant was the fact that Lanerie missed the first six days of the meet following the death of his wife, with the jockey making it a mission to win the title in Shantel Lanerie’s honor.
Wes Hawley won the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint with Jazzy Times, a horse he claimed three races earlier for $25,000 but now is 2 for 2 on turf. The stakes was the first for 24-year-old jockey Ty Kennedy at Ellis Park.
Mike Maker, a former leading trainer at Ellis Park, won the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Turf with I’m Betty G and rising star Tyler Gaffalione, who was riding for the first time that day at Ellis Park.
Joey K. Davis of Arlington, Texas, won his first owner’s title in Kentucky and only his second overall as his horses won seven of 15 starts, all trained by Chris Hartman.
Beyond the stakes-winners, Hancock noted that Ellis horses were shipping out and doing well all over the country. Just on Sunday, Ellis Park Derby ninth-place finisher Limation romped in Louisiana Downs’ Grade 3 Super Derby, while Excellent Sunset came out of an Ellis maiden victory to take a $87,000 allowance race at Saratoga in New York. A few days earlier, Air Strike, who lost an Ellis maiden race by a head, went to Del Mar’s elite California meet and won by 6 1/4 lengths.
And on Saturday’s opening day of Kentucky Downs, horses that won their debuts at Ellis Park finished 1-2 in the $400,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile in Henley’s Joy and Tracksmith.
“There are some big runners coming out of here,” Hancock said. “You wait and see. It’s a big deal.”
“I hate to see it come to an end,” said Jason Fischer, a racing fan from Boonville, Ind.
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