'One of our best meets ever, no question' expected at Ellis Park

Ellis Park doesn’t charge admission, so exact attendance isn’t known. But a sizable crowd, many families with young children, came out amid the track’s frequent companion: summer heat and humidity.

“It’s the beginning of summer and we are where we should be: Ellis Park,” said racing secretary Dan Bork, standing in the paddock near the track. “It’s not overly packed, but it’s a good crowd. We take all the precautions for our human and equine participants. We have water stations all the way around the track, we have water hoses here (through the stretch) and water hoses in the paddock. We have our state veterinarians closely monitoring everybody.  

“We do have a lot of experience with this, and everybody helps out.”

Bork anticipates this being “one of our best meets ever, no question.”

Ellis Park is offering a record $230,000 in average daily purses and has added four stakes for a total of 10 throughout the meet that ends Labor Day.

“With our purse structure, stakes schedule and the anticipation coming in, the people who are planning on running here, I think it will be one of our strongest meets ever,” Bork said.

Jockey Sammy Camacho, trying to break into the Kentucky circuit after riding in New York, rode at Ellis Park for the first time in Sunday’s fourth race. He made it a most memorable debut, rallying from last on Del Loveland’s 43-1 shot Sage Master to nail the front-running favorite Shanghai Point by a head in the $7,500 claiming race. Sage Master paid $88.20 to win.

 

“First, I thank the trainer and owner for the opportunity,” Camacho said. “I’d never before been on this horse. I made my move, went outside and he gave me an amazing win in my first time at Ellis Park. That way you can show the people (you can ride). I love to win, and it’s really exciting.”

Camacho’s agent is a very familiar face at Ellis Park and throughout the Kentucky and Midwest circuits. As a jockey, Francisco Torres rode and won many races at the Pea Patch. Torres retired as a jockey last fall. He had made his latest successful comeback after sustaining a broken neck — his fourth — but when he went down in another spill at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans last Thanksgiving, he decided it was time to walk away while he could.

Torres was beaming after Camacho’s victory. “I’m so proud of him,” he said, adding cheerfully to the camera, “He’s a great rider, great up-and-coming rider. So if you can put him on a mount, please do.”

Torres also is trying to break in, not on the circuit but as an agent lining up mounts for a jockey.

“It’s tough, not easy,” he said. “I thought me being well-known around the Kentucky circuit, it was going to be easy. But it’s not. You’ve got some of the top riders in the nation here, and to break into is hard. So we’re trying hard, working our butts off, during everything we can to try to get the better mounts.” 

The wealth was spread on opening day, with nine different jockeys and trainers winning. Among them were jockey Adam Beschizza and trainer Joe Sharp, who teamed to win the $43,000 first-level allowance feature with the 3-year-old filly Starving Artist. The cleverly-named daughter of Paynter, out of the mare Salary Drive, beat older fillies while covering the mile over firm turf in 1:34.29, paying $6.20 as the favorite. Sharp co-owns Starving Artist with Great Point Stables’ Sol Kumin, also a partner in the Brad Cox-trained Kentucky Oaks winner Monomoy Girl.

In her last race, Starving Artist broke from an outside post and led into the late stages at Churchill Downs before weakening to third, beaten a total of a length. She started from the rail Sunday.

“She’s a filly who sort of likes to get her own way,” said Beschizza, riding at Ellis Park for the first time as part of his circuit change to Kentucky. “I had her in front at Churchill Downs, and probably took a little too much (out of her) just to sort of sustain the lead. But today we got the inside post and everything worked out. I think you can get her in top gear. She’s got a fair amount of ability, this filly. It’s just trying to squeeze it out of her. These people (Kumin) have jumped in on board, Monomoy Girl’s owners, so I’m sure they’ll be pleased.”

Starving Artist needed six starts to win, doing so at the Fair Grounds the first time Beschizza rode her. Now 2-1-4 in 10 races, her only poor effort came at Keeneland over yielding turf.

“I’m delighted to ride my first winner here my first day riding,” Beschizza said. “She was getting pretty flustered in the preliminaries, and I was a little bit worried. But she’s got an engine, she’s got a bit of class. She’ll improve. She likes fast turf, and on opening day today, the turf is in pristine condition.”