Did you know: 10 major winners who graduated at Ellis Park

Aug 18, 2026 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Magnitude wins at Ellis Park

Magnitude breaks his maiden on July 20, 2024 at Ellis Park (Photo by Coady Media)

Saratoga and Del Mar are well known for launching the careers of high-profile two-year-olds, but there’s another summer racing hotspot to watch. Youngsters graduating from Ellis Park near Henderson, Kentucky– right next to Evansville, Indiana – have also developed into major winners.

Did you know that leading sire Not This Time scored his first win at Ellis in 2016? A few of his notable progeny likewise broke their maidens here, including $9.6 million-earner Magnitude.

Rich Strike, who would shock the 2022 Kentucky Derby (G1) at odds of 80-1, started his career at Ellis in 2021. That was an inauspicious debut, as he trailed home last, but it just proves the point that you can never tell who might be lurking in an Ellis Park maiden!

Serengeti Empress was already a winner when she appeared at the western Kentucky track in the summer of 2018. But her romp in the Ellis Park Debutante S. presaged a similar domination of the Pocahontas (G2) at Churchill Downs, and further down the road, her front-running victory in the 2019 Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Focusing only on two-year-old maiden winners in recent years, here are 10 noteworthy graduates from Ellis Park in the 2020s:

She Feels Pretty

Future champion turf female She Feels Pretty signaled her talent in her unveiling in a turf sprint maiden on July 16, 2023. She rallied from well back to get up in time by a neck.

Adding the Natalma (G1) at Woodbine next time out, She Feels Pretty gave trainer Cherie DeVaux her first Grade 1 success. DeVaux has since become a star in the sport herself and transcended the racing scene as the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby. Her historic victory came courtesy of Golden Tempo, who also captured the Belmont (G1).

She Feels Pretty would rack up four more Grade 1 wins in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1), American Oaks (G1), New York (G1), and E.P. Taylor (G1). Twice a close second at the Breeders’ Cup, she ultimately retired with more than $2.5 million in earnings.

Magnitude

Like sire Not This Time, Magnitude made his second career start at Ellis and rolled in front-running fashion on July 20, 2024. Unlike his sire, Magnitude didn’t use his maiden romp as a springboard to immediate stardom. It took some time for him to put it all together, but the Steve Asmussen pupil scored his stakes breakthrough in grand style in the 2025 Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds.

Note that Magnitude was the fourth Ellis maiden winner of that crop to take a Road to the Derby event. East Avenue starred in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1), First Resort scored in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2), and Poster prevailed in the Remsen (G2).

Magnitude was knocked off the Derby trail by an injury, but he’s matured into a world-class performer. He won four in a row, highlighted by the Dubai World Cup (G1) and the Clark (G2)/Stephen Foster (G1) double at Churchill. In the latter, Magnitude upstaged Derby-winning Horse of the Year Sovereignty.

Most recently sixth behind a resurgent Sovereignty in the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga, Magnitude hopes to rebound in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Keeneland.

Midnight Bourbon

An earlier Asmussen trainee for the same owners, Winchell Thoroughbreds, Midnight Bourbon romped in his second Ellis try on Aug. 22, 2020. His only other win came in the 2021 Lecomte (G3) on the Road to the Derby at Fair Grounds, but he bankrolled more than $3.6 million by placing in a host of major events.

Runner-up in the Preakness (G1), Travers (G1), Pennsylvania Derby (G1), and Louisiana Derby (G2), Midnight Bourbon finished third in the Champagne (G1), Clark, and Saudi Cup (G1). He was on the way to placing in the Haskell (G1) too, until he clipped heels and unseated his rider. The star-crossed colt succumbed to a gastrointestinal problem in the spring of his four-year-old season, leaving a tragic sense of what might have been.

Timberlake

After running away by 9 1/4 lengths in an Ellis maiden on July 21, 2023, Timberlake stamped himself as the favorite for Saratoga’s prestigious Hopeful (G1). The Brad Cox pupil settled for second in the Hopeful, but he roared back to take the historic Champagne at Belmont Park.

Meanwhile, his Ellis form was holding up. The distant second in his maiden, West Saratoga, won two straight, including the Iroquois (G3), to emerge as a competitor on the Road to the Derby. Timberlake also contended on the Derby trail for a time, notably capturing the Rebel (G2) at Oaklawn Park.

Tiz the Bomb

Tiz the Bomb crushed his maiden by 14 1/4 lengths on the dirt July 2, 2021, but he soon excelled on turf and synthetic tracks for Ken McPeek. Promptly extending his winning streak in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile and Bourbon (G2), he was runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1).

On the Derby trail at Turfway Park, Tiz the Bomb swept both the John Battaglia Memorial and the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3). He wound up ninth when reverting to dirt in the Kentucky Derby, and thereafter spent the bulk of his time in turf stakes.

Matareya

Godolphin’s homebred Matareya wired her debut on Aug. 20, 2021, propelling herself into the Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland. Tiring to fifth behind stablemate (and fellow Ellis maiden winner) Juju’s Map, the Cox trainee found her niche in one-turn races. Her marquee wins came in the 2022 Acorn (G1) and Eight Belles (G2) as well as in the 2023 Derby City Distaff (G1).

Juju’s Map went on to finish second to champion Echo Zulu in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). The third-placer in the Breeders’ Cup, Tarabi, was herself an Ellis graduate.

Kilwin

The Rusty Arnold-trained Kilwin started on turf and later earned her signature win on dirt. She won her turf sprint debut at Ellis on July 27, 2024, and made it two straight in the Untapable S. at Kentucky Downs.

Following a trio of losses, including a second to champion Shisospicy in the 2025 Mamzelle (G3) on the Churchill turf, Kilwin switched to dirt and regained the winning thread. In last summer’s Test (G1) at Saratoga, she overcame a stumbling start to snare a top-level victory. Kilwin recently reappeared on the Ellis main track and swept from last to first in the Twin Bridges S., her prep for the Aug. 29 Ballerina (G1) back at Saratoga.

Crazy Beautiful

Another turf-to-dirt campaigner, Crazy Beautiful scored on the Ellis lawn in her July 5, 2020 premiere and quickly followed up on the main track in the Ellis Park Juvenile.

The McPeek filly placed in a few Road to the Kentucky Oaks events – the Pocahontas (G3) (to fellow Ellis graduate Girl Daddy), Alcibiades, and Davona Dale (G2) – before earning her first graded victory in the 2021 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2). Unplaced in the Kentucky Oaks, Crazy Beautiful went on coast-to-coast travels to plunder the Summertime Oaks (G2) at Santa Anita and the Delaware Oaks (G3).

Competitive in stakes throughout her four-year-old campaign as well, Crazy Beautiful compiled a $1.1 million bankroll from 21 starts.

Chop Chop

Millionaire Chop Chop likewise displayed both longevity and versatility during her 21-race career, spanning turf, dirt, and synthetic surfaces.

A debut winner Aug. 14, 2022 over a mile on the Ellis turf, Chop Chop passed her first stakes test in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies. The Cox filly tried dirt in the Alcibiades and missed by a nose to Wonder Wheel, the eventual champion in the division. Chop Chop competed on the Road to the Oaks at Fair Grounds in 2023, but she didn’t progress on the surface. Regaining form on the synthetic at Turfway that winter, Chop Chop fulfilled her early promise when going back to turf.

Chop Chop won both 1 1/2-mile features for turf distaffers at Keeneland in 2024, the Bewitch (G3) during the spring meet and the Dowager (G3) in the fall. Chop Chop sold to Repole Stable for $900,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s November Sale and made her swan song for Todd Pletcher, just missing by a nose in the 2025 La Prevoyante (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

Private Creed

Other graduates of the 2022 Ellis Park meet included future Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) upsetter Southlawn and Road to the Derby veteran Jace’s Road, but Private Creed deserves a mention for his overall consistency and more reliable form.

Private Creed parlayed his July 30, 2022 Ellis Park debut into a productive career as a turf sprinter. The Asmussen runner won the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint and Keeneland’s Indian Summer S. en route to a third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1). As a three-year-old, he returned to Kentucky Downs to land the lucrative Franklin-Simpson (G2).

What about the 2025 Ellis season?

Several notable performers emerged from last year’s maidens, but most are still active as three-year-olds, and it offers greater historical perspective to assess them as they reach maturity.

Chief among them so far is On Time Girl. Bred for Ellis success as a daughter of Not This Time and Girl Daddy, the Cox filly has won this season’s Forward Gal (G3) and Eight Belles.

Others to note from the 2025 Ellis class are Breeders’ Futurity runner-up Blackout Time; Argos, winner of the Summer (G1) at Woodbine; Appalachian (G2) heroine Storm’s Wake; blueblood To a Flame, successful in the July 3 Wild Applause S. at Saratoga; and Infiltrate, a terrific second in the Secretariat (G2) in his belated sophomore bow at Colonial Downs.

Who are the 2026 prospects to watch? Stay tuned!

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