Blue Grass winner Art Collector bound for Ellis Park; Maximum Security back on track
Toyota Blue Grass Stakes winner Art Collector will remain in Kentucky for his final tune-up race before the Kentucky Derby.
Ellis Park announced Tuesday that the next start for Bruce Lunsford’s 3-year-old colt will be the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9.
The Ellis Park Derby doubled its purse and extended its distance from a mile to 1 1/8 miles this year and was added to the Kentucky Derby Championship Series. The winner receives 50 qualifying points, with 20 for second place, 10 for third and five for fourth.
Art Collector, trained by Tommy Drury, picked up 100 points in winning the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on July 11. He stands fifth in the Kentucky Derby standings behind Tiz the Law (272), Authentic (200), Honor A.P. (120) and Ny Traffic (110).
The Kentucky Derby was postponed from the first Saturday in May to the first Saturday in September this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
After their Blue Grass win, Lunsford and Drury considered keeping Art Collector in training in the eight weeks leading up to the Derby but ultimately decided one more race would enhance his conditioning.
“The good news is that it’s not a have-to-win situation,” Drury said. “If at any point (jockey) Brian (Hernandez Jr.) feels like we’re not getting the trip or things aren’t going the way we need it to go, we don’t have to abuse him to win the race.”
Lunsford and Drury are lifelong Louisvillians, while Hernandez has lived in the area since he began riding full-time in 2004. Lunsford also has a lot of close friends in western Kentucky.
“Bruce is thrilled,” Drury said of running in the Ellis Park Derby. “He’s a Kentucky guy and he wants to support Kentucky racing. He thought it was a great idea.
“The ultimate goal is to run this horse the first Saturday in September, and this is a perfect steppingstone to get us there. The fact that we’re able to do it without leaving the state, that’s icing on the cake.”
Other potential entrants for the Ellis Park Derby include Attachment Rate, who finished fifth in the Blue Grass; Pneumatic, who was fourth in the Belmont Stakes; Sole Volante, who was sixth in the Belmont; Indiana Derby winner Shared Sense and runner-up Major Fed; and Ohio Derby winner Dean Martini and runner-up South Bend.
Maximum Security returns
Maximum Security, whose wildly successful career has been shrouded in controversy, returns to the track Saturday night for the $150,000, Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar.
The race was originally scheduled last Saturday but was postponed a week when the track closed last weekend because of COVID-19 concerns.
Maximum Security will face a field of five other older horses, including 2020 Santa Anita Handicap winner Combatant, 2020 San Pasqual Stakes winner Midcourt and 2019 Pacific Classic champion Higher Power.
Maximum Security was first to cross the finish line in the 2019 Kentucky Derby but was disqualified to 17th place after stewards ruled he interfered with other horses.
He also won this year’s $20 million Saudi Cup, the world’s richest horse race, but his prize money is being withheld while organizers investigate charges that his former trainer, Jason Servis, employed performance-enhancing drugs.
The Saudi Cup on Feb. 29 marked Maximum Security’s only race this year and his fourth consecutive victory, following wins in 2019 in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap and the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational.
Maximum Security, now trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, has won eight of his 10 career races.
“I don’t like the circumstances (of) the way I got the horse, but he couldn’t be training any better and I really expect the big effort from him,” Baffert told the Blood-Horse during a National Thoroughbred Racing Association conference call. “I feel a little added pressure. But there’s a lot of pressure when you’re around good horses, and we always have that.”