Sermononthemount, Super Stock Vie in Ellis Park Derby

Trainer Tom Amoss finds a different scenario facing Sermononthemount  in running Emil Cerullo's 3-year-old colt in the $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby Aug. 15 than what awaited him in last month's Indiana Derby (G3) at Indiana Grand. 

The Indiana Derby had a heavy favorite in Churchill Downs' Matt Winn Stakes (G3) winner Fulsome . But the time-honored racing tenet is that you don't run away from one horse. Indeed, Sermononthemount finished second at 18-1 as Mr. Wireless  rolled to victory in the 1 1/16-mile stakes. Fulsome finished a non-threatening third.

The 1 1/8-mile Ellis Park Derby would not appear to have a prohibitive favorite in its field of six 3-year-olds. While Erv Woolsey and Keith Asmussen's Super Stock  won the Arkansas Derby (G1), he also finished fourth in the Texas Derby and Iowa Derby following a 16th in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). Also entered: Indiana Derby fourth-place finisher Starrininmydreams , Ellis Park allowance winner Colonel Bowman , allowance runner-up There Goes Harvard , and Ellis maiden winner Hanks .

The Ellis Park Derby is part of a five-stakes Sunday card that also features the $125,000 Groupie Doll Stakes for fillies and mares, $125,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Juvenile, $125,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Debutante, and $100,000 RUNHAPPY Audubon Oaks.

The Indiana Derby "was a race on paper that I thought was worth rolling the dice," Amoss said. "I think that's kind of what's happening again... I see a field in the Ellis Park Derby with a lot of horses that are up and coming and improving, but certainly no horse in there that would scare another one out."

James Graham has the return mount on Sermononthemount following a 3 3/4-length Indiana Derby loss to Mr. Wireless, who returned to win the West Virginia Derby (G3).

The deepest stakes race on the Sunday card at Ellis Park is the one-mile Groupie Doll, which drew an overflow field of 13, led by Dreamalildreamofu . Her Brad Cox-trained stablemate, also-eligible Matera , needs a scratch to draw in and start.

Randy Patterson's Verylittlecents  leads the Ellis Park Debutante, while class-dropping Candy Landing , sixth in the Sanford Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course for Mueller Thoroughbred Stable, tops the Ellis Park Juvenile.

"He was very impressive first time out, that's why we took him up there," trainer Brendan Walsh said of running the colt at Saratoga. "It didn't work out good for him, though. It was a deep track early in the meet. He broke a little slow, got stuck down on the inside, and that was it pretty much. He came out of it well, and we thought we'd get him back here and give this one a go. If he gets back to his maiden form, I wouldn't write him off."

Magic Quest  and Carribean Caper  are the Audubon Oaks headliners.

Entries: Runhappy Ellis Park Derby

Ellis Park, Sunday, August 15, 2021, Race 7

• STK
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 3 yo
• 3:40 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Colonel Bowman (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	118	Brad H. Cox	6/1
2	2Super Stock (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	122	Steven M. Asmussen	9/5
3	3Hanks (KY)	Miguel Mena	118	Wesley E. Hawley	10/1
4	4There Goes Harvard (KY)	Joseph Talamo	118	Michael W. McCarthy	8/1
5	5Sermononthemount (KY)	James Graham	118	Thomas M. Amoss	5/2
6	6Starrininmydreams (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	118	Dallas Stewart	3/1