Each summer, Kentucky's laid-back and charming Ellis Park offers unique view of racing

by Ed DeRosa

THE QUESTION I am most often asked as a Turf writer is, "You must visit a lot of racetracks; which one is your favorite?"

I doubt I could ever limit my list to a single favorite, but I am always more than happy to oblige my inquisitor with a top-five list High Fidelity-style. The top four spots are some combination of Belmont Park, Churchill Downs, Gulfstream Park, Keeneland Race Course, and Santa Anita Park, but my fifth choice is always the same: Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky.

"Ellis Park?" my new friend invariably asks with a bit of surprise. Yes, Ellis Park. The Pea Patch. Patchity. The Old Dade Park. These are all monikers I've heard Ellis Park go by, and if coming up with nicknames is this much fun, imagine the thrill of actually being there.

I have visited Ellis Park every year since I moved to Lexington in May 2002, and my fourth annual pilgrimage will commence on August 20 when I make the 31/2-hour drive to attend the $150,000 Gardenia Handicap (G3) and three other stakes for a program dubbed Big Four Stakes Saturday.

My first trip to Ellis was on August 10, 2002, and a better impression a racetrack could not have made. The rusty water tower above the top of the stretch, the amber waves of grain in the infield that gives Ellis its Pea Patch nickname, and the old men arguing the merits of a 3-to-4 favorite at Saratoga Race Course (who finished unplaced) all gave the track instant charm and and I developed an immediate rapport.

The water tower and soybean field were straight out of a postcard I would expect to find in a Bill Bryson book, and the old men reminded me of my grandfather. There was enough familiarity to make me comfortable but enough unique atmosphere to make me feel adventurous.

Ellis opens its 79th season on July 13 and runs through September 5, and Racing Secretary Doug Bredar expects results to be more in line with 2003 than '04. Ellis offered nine weeks of racing last year with six days of racing per week compared with eight weeks of racing and five days of racing per week this year.

Average field size declined nearly 10% last year, but Bredar expects the number to increase to around nine starters per race this year with fewer races as well as the presence of $10,000 in bonus money for trainers who have the highest number of starts based on several criteria. Average daily purses will range from $114,000 to $140,000.

"We're looking forward to a good meet," Bredar said. "Our barn area is almost completely full, and that's the first time that's happened in the four years I've been racing secretary there."

I first experienced Ellis Park from simulcast land in July 2000 when I noticed the signal at Northfield Park, a Standardbred facility near Cleveland where I was interning for the summer. As a casual fan of all racing, I was familiar with many of the major racing venues and races, but places like Ellis Park just never got much press in Cleveland. Luckily, full-card simulcasting brings a nation of racing right to the television monitor, and I quickly became acquainted with Ellis, as well as such tracks as Yavapai Downs in Arizona and Grants Pass Downs in Oregon.

For whatever reason, Ellis just stuck with me. I thought it was neat that a rural facility had a 11/8-mile main track, a one-mile chute on the first turn (similar to Belmont's 11/4-mile chute), and a one-mile turf course. The guy in shorts in the grandstand giving race analysis also appealed to me. This place was laid-back; it was cool. This is what summer was all about.

I think that is the main draw of Ellis. If I had to sum up the Ellis Park experience in a word, that word would be summer. While Saratoga means socializing and Del Mar is all about the beach, Ellis Park is cucumber--as in cool-as-a. You go, you have a beer, you watch the horses in the paddock, and then you get right up on the rail and watch them cross the finish line 50 feet in front of your own eyes. Repeat up to ten times a day and hope you have enough money left to cover gas.

I would never blaspheme Saratoga and Del Mar, but if you go to the track this summer to watch horse racing instead of going to watch people and hats, then Ellis is worth the drive and $2.