Good Lord Makes a Good Run at Ellis

While he was only the third choice at the betting windows, the track record holder for 6 ½ furlongs at Ellis Park proved he’s still one to beat. Sent off at 4-1, Good Lord made every call a winning one, held off all challengers and pulled away to a 3 ¼-length win in the $50,000 Don Bernhardt Stakes on Saturday.  For the steady old campaigner it was victory number 10 from 51 starts in a career that started at Ellis and has seen him racing at 10 different tracks.

Off record time but fast enough to win

Under jockey Javier Castenon, Good Lord was sent to the lead in front of six others, and was forced to fend off 2-1 second choice Right to Vote at the half-pole, before digging in to pull away from heavy favorite Good Morning Diva, who finished second, a nose in front of Right To Vote. After some quick early fractions, Good Lord stopped the clock at 1:15.07, more than a half-second off his record time of 1:14.46, set last year in the same race.

Veteran sprinter only lacks consistency

Since then, Good Lord had experienced mixed results in the minor stakes ranks running in Florida, Kentucky and Texas, with a third place result in the Grade III Texas Mile Stakes at Lone Star preceded by a dull effort to finish sixth in the Hilton Garden/Hampton Inn Suite Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.  Coming into the Don Bernhardt, Good Lord had run fourth in the Kelly’s Landing Stakes at Churchill, a race won Handily by Right To Vote.  With the win, Good Lord ups his record to 10-9-11, with more than $500,000 in the bank.