Lady Eli Pointed to Aug. 27 Ballston Spa

Undefeated turf star Lady Eli will make her comeback in the Aug. 27 Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa Stakes (gr. IIT) at Saratoga Race Course if all goes according to plan, trainer Chad Brown said July 28.

The 4-year-old Lady Eli has been off for more than a year, since stepping on a nail on the Belmont Park backstretch on her way back to Brown’s barn after winning the July 4, 2015, Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (gr. I) and contracting laminitis. Lady Eli progressed to the point where she was placed back in training this past winter in Florida, but some minor setbacks pushed her schedule back.

She has been training regularly at Belmont, posting four timed works in July that have gotten progressively better. On July 3 she worked four furlongs on the turf in :52.22. A week later she covered the same distance in :49.50, and on July 17 she recorded a time of :48.36. On July 24, Brown stepped her up to five furlongs on the turf and Lady Eli fired a bullet in 1:00.63, the fastest of six works at the distance that day.

"She's doing well," Brown said. "That five-eighths move was one of her top works. She looked very good, and if she continues to develop it looks like she’ll be back to her old self. If all goes well she'll end up in the Ballston Spa."

The $400,000 Ballston Spa is a 1 1/16-mile turf event for 3-year-old and up fillies and mares.

Lady Eli (Divine Park—Sacre Coeur, by Saint Ballado) has won all six of her races and $1,449,800 for Jay Hanley and Sol Kumin’s Sheep Pond Partners. She was bred in Kentucky by Runnymede Farm and Catesby W. Clay.

Lady Eli won the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IT) at Santa Anita Park.