Wilkes eyes Ellis Park Debutante with former Emerald Downs runner
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It’s not every day that you see a 2-year-old who started out at Washington state’s Emerald Downs running at Ellis Park. In fact, who knows if it’s ever happened?
But Profound Legacy looked like a filly of whom we’ll hear more, winning an Ellis Park allowance race by 4 1/2 lengths over 30-1 pacesetter Princess Athena in Saturday's $43,000 fifth race. That followed on the heels of Profound Legacy winning her June 3 debut by 7 3/4 lengths, after which she came on trainer Ian Wilkes’ radar. Asked if he just happens to be in the habit of watching Emerald Downs baby races, Wilkes laughed and said by phone from Saratoga, “Of course. I watch them all the time. Yeah, right.
“No, someone called me and told me that a filly that just ran was very impressive. I looked at her, called up to see if she was for sale, and I took a trip out there to look at her. Went out to Emerald Downs, first time there, and I liked what I saw so we bought her. The guys who owned her stayed in for 25 percent.”
Wilkes’ clients Turf Stable and Six Column Stables are the new owners, with Mark Dedomenico and Mike Waters retaining part interest. Among the new owners on hand were Rush Fullerton and Scott and Jennifer McReynolds, all of Louisville and who are in Rusty Jones’ Turf Stable partnership.
“I just liked her presence, the way she travels,” Wilkes said. “I like that she does everything easy. I watched her gallop and liked what I saw on the track. I was actually very impressed. They said she was small, but when you walk up beside her, she’s bigger than what you think.”
“It was impressive today,” Wilkes said. “I loved her turn of foot. We’re still getting to know her, but the move she made coming around the turn to put Steve Asmussen’s filly (Kristizar) away was impressive. You don’t put Steve’s horses away too easy. They are hard to get by.”
Here’s something else notable about Profound Legacy: She’s a full sister to breeder Brereton Jones’ 2012 Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can, who was trained by former Ellis Park mainstay and Hopkinsville product Larry Jones. Both horses are by Brereton Jones’ stallion Proud Citizen and out of his El Prado mare El Fasto.
Profound Legacy settled into fourth under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., making a sweeping move coming out of the turn to seize the lead at the top of the stretch. She finished 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:19.34, paying $3.80 to win as the odds-on favorite. Princess Athena, off at 30-1, finished second with My Wynter Rose third by a nose over second-choice Kristizar, who had been battling for the lead before giving way.
“She looks like she’s got a bright future,” Hernandez said. “I worked her the other morning, and she worked like she kind of ran today: on and off, on and off. But today when I called on her turning for home, she went on by those fillies really easily and she looks like the sky is the limit. The whole way down the lane, she was widening away from those fillies at the same time she was waiting on them.”
Wilkes said Profound Legacy will return to his Churchill Downs division and come back to Ellis Park for the $75,000 Ellis Park Debutante at seven-eighths of a mile on Aug. 19.
“We wanted to run her at Churchill Downs, but we didn’t quite get her in time,” he said. “I just didn’t want to push it because it was a little different climate that she was coming from. I said, ‘Let’s just back off and get her ready for this race today, then we’ve got the seven-furlong race if we’re good enough.’
“We toyed with the idea of running at Saratoga, but we decided let’s stay at Ellis and see what we have. We want to develop her. She was a little green today. Even though she ran away from them, she still was making mistakes. The water gets deeper as we go. This was only her second start. And sitting here at Churchill, they have the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill. They have a ‘Win and You’re In’ (automatic qualifier) race at Churchill in September. So why not give her the opportunity there?”
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