Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Danner begins training career
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kelsey Danner bounced between barns and press boxes as a young girl. When it came time to choose a career on the racetrack, well, it was a walkover.
“I always liked the horse side of things,” Danner said. “They’re easy. People can be hard.”
More than 15 years since she began galloping horses at her hometown track, Churchill Downs, Danner will make her debut as a trainer when she saddles Nan’s Pierce Arrow for the sixth race Saturday at Ellis Park in western Kentucky.
Danner, 31, has uncommon experience for a so-called rookie, having worked closely with a variety of high-profile trainers, including five years as an assistant to Wayne Catalano during a particularly productive span for “Cat Man.”
Danner currently has five horses at a private farm in Lexington, Ky., where she also spent the past few months training at Keeneland. She hopes to soon move her stable to Churchill.
Danner is the only child of Mark Danner, a trainer since 1991, and Kelly Danner, the longtime Churchill horsemen’s liaison who worked in media relations when Kelsey was a tot. Both parents have relatives whose roots in various racingrelated jobs have spanned decades, so Kelsey was never far from a racetrack.
Nan’s Pierce Arrow is owned by Nancy Pierce, a Hot Springs, Ark., resident who is a longtime client of Mark Danner. The 5-year-old gelding will try to improve on his 2-for-27 record in a never-won-three $16,000 claiming mile Saturday.
“The horse was claimed back in Iowa this summer so I could take him,” Kelsey Danner said.
Although she galloped for such trainers as D. Wayne Lukas, Carl Nafzger, Ian Wilkes, and Rusty Arnold, it was her years (2011-16) under Catalano that gave Danner the confidence to ultimately go out on her own.
“He gave me a lot of room to grow,” she said. “I was pretty independent with him, and obviously I learned a lot along the way.”
Danner said she is “a little nervous but excited” about getting her training career under way.
“She’s a good horsewoman,” Catalano said. “She comes from a good horse family. She’s very conscientious, and she’s good on a horse’s back. I wish her all the best.”
“I fell in love with horses when I was very young,” Danner said. “It’s all I ever wanted to do.”
Ten City lost shoe in loss
Trainer Kenny McPeek said Ten City lost a front shoe at the start of the Ellis Park Juvenile last Sunday, perhaps partially accounting for the colt incurring his first defeat. Dak Attack won the Juvenile, with Ten City finishing 4 3/4 lengths back in third as the odds-on favorite.
“It couldn’t have helped,” said McPeek. “But we’re good. The colt is fine, and I wasn’t overly disappointed. It should serve us well toward the next race.”
A rematch is likely in the Grade 3 Iroquois on Sept. 16 at Churchill Downs. McPeek said he also could run Honorable Treasure, a maiden winner at Saratoga last weekend.
Likewise, the top three finishers in the Ellis Debutante – Kelly’s Humor, Upset Brewing, and the previously unbeaten Sunny Skies, also trained by McPeek – could return Sept. 16 at Churchill in the Grade 2 Pocahontas.
Canchari joins Kentucky circuit
Alex Canchari has ridden races from coast to coast while establishing himself as a capable journeyman. Now, he’ll ride regularly in Kentucky for the first time.
Canchari will team with one of the top agents on this circuit, Terry Miller, starting Sept. 1 at Ellis. The intent is to ride at the rich Kentucky Downs meet that starts the following day, then through the September meet at Churchill, the 17-day Keeneland meet, and the Churchill fall meet.
Canchari, 23, is third in the rider standings at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., where he grew up the son of former jockey Luis Canchari and worked as a teenager in concessions at the track before becoming a jockey. He won his first race in January 2012 at Oaklawn Park, and has become a winter fixture at the Arkansas track while also spending significant time at tracks in California, Illinois, Iowa, Oklahoma, and on the East Coast, always returning home to ride the summer meet at Canterbury.
Miller, widely known as Jaws, has represented numerous leading jockeys on this circuit and had worked for Corey Lanerie before they split in April.
Notables likely at Ky. Downs
Trainer Kenny McPeek said Daddys Lil Darling, second to Abel Tasman in the Kentucky Oaks in May, will make her next start in the Sept. 10 Dueling Grounds Oaks as one of several “name” horses expected during the five-day Kentucky Downs meet. Miss Temple City, a threetime Grade 1 winner, is possible for the Sept. 9 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf after breezing again Monday at her Fair Hill training base.
Per-day purses are once again expected to average more than $1.7 million at turf-only Kentucky Downs.
◗ John Ortiz has been one of the hottest trainers in the region in recent weeks. Not only does Ortiz have a 4-for-9 mark at Ellis as another threeday weekend resumes Friday, but he also has been striking at Belterra and Indiana Grand. Since July 1, Ortiz has nine wins, six seconds, and four thirds from 25 starts.