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Art Collector Framed as Ellis Park Derby Favorite

Blue Grass Stakes (G2)-winning son of Bernardini set for Aug. 9 event.

Art Collector works Aug. 1 at Churchill Downs

Art Collector works Aug. 1 at Churchill Downs

Coady Photography

In the crazy, mixed-up pandemic world of 2020, anything is possible. Case in point: Ellis Park, generally a summer proving ground for 2-year-olds, is running a race in early August that has major classic implications.

One day after the Midsummer Derby at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York, racing's focus will turn to the tiny track in Henderson, Ky., for the $200,000 Runhappy Ellis Park Derby.

In a summer that has seen short fields for most major races, 12 sophomores are slated to line up for the nine-furlong event, which offers the winner 50 points toward the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). With Ellis' proximity to Churchill Downs, and with the spacing of four weeks to the Run for the Roses, the test has allured horsemen to the track affectionately known as the "pea patch."

Bruce Lunsford homebred Art Collector, who has made his way near the top of the division based on his 3 1/2-length win in the July 11 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2), is the star attraction. The son of Bernardini has drawn post 4 and is the 4-5 morning-line favorite, a bold figure for a field that includes several others whose stock is rising.

The Ellis Park Derby, which will be shown live on TVG, will be presented in front of a sold-out—albeit limited capacity—facility and anchors four other stakes on the biggest day of the Runhappy summer meet.

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The postponement of the Kentucky Derby has played in Art Collector's favor. The bay colt didn't make his 2020 debut until May 17 at Churchill and rattled off three strong wins in the Bluegrass State under Brian Hernandez Jr. At 2, he was conditioned by Joe Sharp; Lunsford transferred him to Thomas Drury, however, after Art Collector was disqualified for testing positive for a prohibited substance. Drury, a longtime horseman behind the scenes, earned his first graded win in the Blue Grass.

Drury has put a pair of maintenance works into Art Collector since the Blue Grass. The latest move was a half-mile in :48 4/5 Aug. 1 at Chuchill Downs.

Class runs deep in Art Collector's pedigree. He is out of Lunsford's grade 1-placed stakes winner Distorted Legacy. Second in the 1 1/4-mile Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes (G1T) in the fall of 2011, she followed that with a fourth-place finish, beaten less than a length, in the 11-furlong Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) at Churchill. Distorted Legacy is out of Bunting, who was second in the Ashland Stakes (G1) and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) in 1994.

The frontrunning Art Collector will have plenty of talent stalking him. The higher-profile contenders include Godolphin homebred Shared Sense and Raise the BAR and David Bernsen's Dean Martini, both of whom have blossomed over the summer.

Shared Sense, from the barn of Brad Cox, chased Art Collector home in a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claiming race June 13 at Churchill, then drew off to win the Indiana Derby (G3) by three lengths July 8. He, too, has a family that figures to move forward. While Art Collector is by the classic-winning 2006 champion 3-year-old male, Shared Sense is by Darley's classic winner and champion Street Sense  out of the Bernardini mare Collective. Collective is out of grade 1 winner Composure, who was second in the 2002 Long John Silver's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).

Earlier in the year, Cox described Shared Sense as a "tough horse" who would get better with distance and race experience.

Dean Martini was a surprise winner of the June 27 Ohio Derby (G3), skimming the rail to take the lead on the backstretch and winning the nine-furlong race by three-quarters of a length under Ricardo Mejias. Local rider James Graham gets the call for trainer Tom Amoss.

Dean Martini, by Cairo Prince , was claimed by Brad Rives of the Raise the BAR group for $50,000 May 17 in the gelding's maiden win at Churchill. Dean Martini is one of the few in the field with experience on the track—he ran second in his Aug. 4 debut last year.

Dean Martini wins the 2020 Ohio Derby
Photo: JJ Zamaiko Photography, Inc.
Ohio Derby winner Dean Martini will tackle the Ellis Park Derby

As with any stakes race for 3-year-olds, other contenders have the right to jump up, showing renewed form.

Top consideration can go to Peter Redekop's Anneau d'Or, who was second in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and has been off for two months since running fourth behind winner Honor A. P.  and runner-up Authentic  in the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1); Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider's Sprawl, who faded to fifth in the Ohio Derby; Chris Hartman-trained Necker Island, the Indiana Derby third; and Phoenix Thoroughbreds' Little Menace, a son of leading sire Into Mischief  who won the June 28 Grand Prairie Derby at Lone Star Park for trainer Steve Asmussen.

Entries: Runhappy Ellis Park Derby

Ellis Park, Sunday, August 9, 2020, Race 10

  • STK
  • 1 1/8m
  • Dirt
  • $200,000
  • 3 yo
  • 5:10 PM (local)
PPHorseJockeyWgtTrainerM/L
11Trident Hit (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateCorey J. Lanerie118Brendan P. Walsh30/1
22Anneau d'Or (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateTyler Baze118Blaine D. Wright12/1
33Sprawl (KY)Julien R. Leparoux118William I. Mott15/1
44Art Collector (KY)Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.122Thomas Drury, Jr.4/5
55Necker Island (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateMitchell Murrill118Chris A. Hartman15/1
66Little Menace (KY)Martin Garcia120Steven M. Asmussen20/1
77Truculent (KY)Adam Beschizza118Jack Sisterson30/1
88Rowdy Yates (OK)Shaun Bridgmohan118Steven M. Asmussen20/1
99Dean Martini (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateJames Graham122Thomas M. Amoss10/1
1010Attachment Rate (VA)Keeneland Sales GraduateJoseph Talamo118Dale L. Romans20/1
1111Winning Impression (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateJoseph Rocco, Jr.118Dallas Stewart20/1
1212Shared Sense (KY)Florent Geroux122Brad H. Cox9/2
1313Rogue Element (KY)Keeneland Sales GraduateMiguel Mena118Dale L. Romans30/1