Plans for Miss Ella's next start are undecided

Jack Swain III’s homebred Miss Ella was relaxing in her Keeneland barn on Saturday morning after winning Friday’s Buffalo Trace Franklin County (G3). Plans for her next start are undecided.

“She ran a great race,” trainer Graham Motion’s assistant Alice Clapham said. “She tried her heart out; she always tries really hard.”

In Friday’s race, Miss Ella held off a strong challenge from favored Fair Point to win by a neck. The victory was her fifth in 13 starts and her first on turf.

Now her schedule could mimic her 2015 campaign in which she was given a vacation after running in the Lexus Raven Run (G2) during last autumn’s Keeneland meet. She opened her 4-year-old season at Keeneland this past April.

“We haven’t made any firm plans for her next start,” Clapham said. “There are no races right around the corner for her so she might get the winter off again. Graham will discuss that with Mr. Swain.”

Stuart Janney III’s Fair Point came out of the race in good order, according to Reeve McGaughey, assistant to father Shug McGaughey.

“She will go back to New York Sunday and we will find something for her,” McGaughey said.

Third-place finisher Smoke Signals, owned by Waterville Lake Stable, also was doing well Saturday morning, said trainer Arnaud Delacour.

“That was a little surprising,” Delacour said of the filly’s 58-1 odds in the race, the second-longest price on the board. “I have only had her for three races and we discovered that she is a better closer than front-runner. We didn’t know that in her first start as we were just getting to know her.”

Delacour also said that Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2) winner A. P. Indian was doing well at his home base at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland after shipping back there following his victory here Oct. 7.

“He will have two works there and leave for California the Tuesday of Breeders’ Cup week (Nov. 1),” Delacour said of the Green Lantern Stables runner who figures to be one of the favorites for the $1.5 million TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) on Nov. 5.

On Oct. 15, 1936, Keeneland opened to great fanfare from the local community and the Thoroughbred industry.

 

To commemorate Keeneland’s anniversary, Barn Notes throughout the Fall Meet is looking back at memorable races and highlights from the track’s rich history.

 

Here are a few memorable events that occurred on Oct. 15:

1936: Keeneland opens its inaugural race meet of nine days. The first day features seven races worth a total of $7,380. Royal Raiment wins the first race, a $1,000 allowance race for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs. Finishing sixth is Wise Dart, trained by Racing Hall of Famer Woody Stephens. … In the fifth race, Racing Hall of Famer Myrtlewood wins the inaugural Keen Handicap, first of four stakes of the season. … Attendance for the entire meet, which closes Oct. 24, is about 8,000 people, who wager $74,639.

1986: To commemorate its 50th anniversary on the same day on which it opened in 1936, Keeneland runs the $50,000 Keeneland Gold Cup, a 1 1/16-mile race on turf for 2-year-olds. The winner is Saron Stable’s Golden Dodger, ridden by Pat Day for trainer J. Bert Sonnier.

2009: Pierre Bellocq, the internationally celebrated artist better known as “Peb,” joins Keeneland and Daily Racing Form to announce the donation of nearly a half-century of his humorous caricatures and equine cartoons to the Keeneland Library.

2011: As part of a yearlong celebration, Keeneland marks its 75th anniversary on the opening date of the track’s first live meet. A special six-furlong stakes for 2-year-olds, the Keeneland 75th Anniversary Stakes, is run. The winner is George Michaels’ Luke of York, ridden by Rajiv Maragh for trainer Jimmy DiVito. That evening, a musical salute from the Boston Pops is held at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington. The concert features the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, under the direction of Keith Lockhart, with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. Proceeds from the concert benefit the Lee T. Todd Jr. and Patricia B. Todd Music Outreach Endowment, created as part of a three-year commitment made by Maker’s Mark and Keeneland to raise money for music outreach in schools throughout Kentucky.

Should Lael Stables’ Hawksmoor (IRE) win today’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End (G1), a member of the Clement family will make a long-awaited second trip to the infield turf course for the trophy presentation.

Miguel Clement, son of trainer Christophe Clement, is an assistant to Hawksmoor’s trainer, Hugo Palmer.

“My dad won his first Grade 1 here in the Queen Elizabeth in 1994 with Danish (IRE) when I was 3,” said Clement, 25, who has been with Palmer for a year. “Julie Krone rode her for my dad.”

The elder Clement has won 15 stakes here. He sent out multiple champion Gio Ponti to win the Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) in 2010 and 2011.