Lady Aurelia drills, then flies

Elite grass sprinter Lady Aurelia, the winner of the Group 1 King’s Stand at Royal Ascot on June 20, is ready for another British invasion after working an effortless five furlongs in 1:02 on the Keeneland turf Tuesday as she prepares for the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York on Aug. 25.

Trainer Wesley Ward, reached by telephone Tuesday in New York, where he was attending the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, was thrilled with her breeze, in which she outworked Grade 1-winning older horse Hootenanny under a hammerlock from jockey Julio Garcia.

“That’s what you want to see before you get on the plane,” he said.

Set to fly to Britain on Wednesday, she will complete her final preparations for the Nunthorpe overseas, with Ward following a training schedule similar to the one he used prior to her King’s Stand victory. He plans to give her an open gallop there and, weather permitting, a “quick move” on Aug. 19 with Frankie Dettori up.

Dettori, who missed riding her in the King’s Stand due to injury, has the mount in the Nunthorpe, where Lady Aurelia is expected to face a budding European sprint star in Battaash. Most overseas bookmakers currently have Lady Aurelia, last year’s champion European 2-year-old filly, as the 3-2 antepost favorite, with Battaash a close second choice at around 2-1.

Two other horses Ward worked Tuesday on the grass at Keeneland – the aforementioned Hootenanny and Con Te Partiro, who won the Sandringham at Royal Ascot on June 21 – are headed to California for their next starts. Ward said Hootenanny is being pointed for the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 20 and Con Te Partiro to the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 19.

Groupie Doll looking strong

The signature race of the Ellis Park meeting, the Grade 3, $100,000 Groupie Doll Stakes, takes place Sunday, with a field of eight or more expected to be entered when the race is drawn Thursday. Contested at a mile on the main track, the race is shaping up to be competitive.

Two probable starters trained by Brad Cox, Tiger Moth and Pinch Hit, will garner mutuel support, as should Walkabout, a graded stakes winner at Churchill Downs this spring, and Put Da Blame On Me, a winner of two straight one-mile allowance races at Churchill.

Sunday’s card also includes the $50,000 Cliff Guilliams Handicap going 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Multiple graded stakes winner Chocolate Ride is the expected starting highweight at 123 pounds.

Options for Colonelsdarktemper

Colonelsdarktemper, the winner of last Saturday’s West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer, came out of the race in good condition and could make his next start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park on Sept. 24, trainer Jinks Fires said.

Fires said he is also considering other races, including the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 23, but his suspicion is that the latter race will prove a far more demanding spot.

Colonelsdarktemper, a 3-year-old son of Colonel John, recorded his first stakes victory in the West Virginia Derby, earning a 95 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest of his eight-race career. Aboard him that day and throughout his career was the veteran rider Jon Court, Fires’s son-in-law.

Winning with Court up is always a little more satisfying for Fires, plus, as he quipped, “It puts another pot of beans on the table.”

Court, second in the Ellis Park standings behind Corey Lanerie, teams up with Fires in four races Friday at Ellis, including the featured third race, a $41,000, first-level allowance at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, riding runaway first-out winner Major Munnings, the 2-1 morning-line favorite.