Ellis Park holds official opening day of Summer Meet

HENDERSON, KY. (WFIE) - It was a big day at the horse track, as Friday was the official opening day at Ellis Park. The completion of Churchill’s spring meet at Ellis, ran from June 10 to July 2. Then on Friday, Ellis began its meet, which runs through the last Sunday in August.

The eighth race of the day, was a $74,000 allowance race, for 3-year old fillies, going 6 1/2 furlongs on the dirt.

As they break from the gate, it’s “Miss Arlington” and “Check Engine Light” going out to the front, and they will take them the first half mile. Then, as they come down the stretch, “Miss Arlington” still leads, but rivals are coming on both sides: the 3, “Padma” and the 2, “Yes Day”.

They both pass “Miss Arlington” at the sixteenth pole, and then “Padma” barely outduels “Yes Day” to the wire. What a race that was, as “Padma” gets her second lifetime win, with jockey Corey Lanerie aboard. We spoke with him, about opening day.

“Today starts a new meet, and it’s always good to get off on the right foot, with the first winner and then we can move on forward and hopefully have a bunch more,” said jockey Corey Lanerie, who rode “Padma” to victory Friday. “It’s always fun to come here. It reminds me of growing up at our home track in Louisiana, so it’s fun, you come here and people love the racing. They love the jockeys, and they make us all feel at home, so it’s a lot of fun.”

Ellis Park’s schedule will be Friday thru Sunday, for the duration of the meet, with first post time, at 11:45 a.m., unless otherwise noted. Saturday’s feature race is the first Ellis stakes race of the season: the Dade Park Dash.

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