Yet he didn’t have any trouble recalling his record at Ellis, though he seemed reluctant to say it aloud, as if doing so might jinx his luck there.

“We’ve run eight horses,” he said. “Seven have won and one ran out of the money.”

It is therefore little wonder that Kenneally, with assistant Nicola Ward overseeing his Kentucky-based horses, is among the leading trainers at Ellis Park, sitting in second place behind Mike Maker, who entered Friday with 8 winners from 20 starters.

It speaks to the depth of both trainers’ stables that they are putting up these numbers with what might be considered their second-stringers, not their A-list runners stabled at Saratoga this summer.

Kenneally called his 7-for-8 mark at Ellis Park “coincidental,” saying things simply fell into place. His horses fit the conditions of the races being carded, and in hindsight, he added that some might even have been good enough to run at Saratoga.

“It is important to know that it will all even out in the long term,” said Kenneally, whose yearly win percentage since 2005 has averaged 18 percent. “You don’t get a true read of what is happening from such a short period.”

Nevertheless, it is a winning period Kenneally won’t mind continuing.

All four of the Trombetta and Kenneally runners should be considered major players.

Trombetta won the Grade 2 Carry Back a year ago with Not for Silver and will bring him back as a 4-year-old to try his luck against older horses in Saturday's Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap.

Not for Silver will be joined in the starting gate for the Smile by stablemate Congressional Page, who is coming off one of the best races of his career, a three-quarter-length victory in Monmouth Park's Decathlon on May 22. He earned a 101 Beyer Speed Figure for that effort.

Not for Silver has not won since drawing off to a 4 1/2-length victory in the 2009 Carry Back. He was second in Keeneland's Grade 3 Perryville to close out his 3-year-old campaign but has been off the board in a pair of graded stakes this season. Most recently, he was eighth, though beaten just four lengths, in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Handicap at Pimlico.

"This will be his third start off the layoff and everybody is familiar with that kind of pattern," said Trombetta. "And his last race in Maryland was deceptively good."

Congressional Page was among the favorites in Monday's $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth, but Trombetta opted to scratch in lieu of the Smile.

"Our original intention was to run at Monmouth, but when the race came out and he drew the one hole we began to find reasons to come down here instead," said Trombetta. "He was carrying 124 pounds, he's had a bad experience in the one hole before, and obviously this is a lot of money and a good opportunity."

Both Not for Silver and Congressional Page have similar running styles so Trombetta will be looking for the same pace scenario he got a year ago in the Carry Back.

"Not for Silver is more of a deep closer than Congressional Page and there are three horses in the field with a lot of speed so it should be a lively pace," said Trombetta. "In a perfect world I'd like to keep the two of them separated, but when they put up a race like this, which is also a Win and You're In for the Breeders' Cup, we want to give it our best shot."

Kenneally finished second here last summer with Keep the Peace behind the Todd Pletcher-trained Game Face in the Grade 1 Princess Rooney. This time, Kenneally brings Warbling in for the Princess Rooney, where she will face off against a strong field that includes Hour Glass, a Pletcher trainee.

Warbling ran the best race of her career earlier this year at Gulfstream Park when leading throughout to capture the Grade 2 Inside Information. In her only subsequent start, she finished a tiring fifth after contesting the pace over a wet track in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs.

"She broke slow from the one post over a wet track, then was rushed to the lead in the Humana, which wasn't ideal," said Kenneally. "Even with all of that, she didn't get beat far. After that we just backed off her and pointed for this race. Winning a Grade 1 with her is our main goal this year. We got a big piece of this race last summer with Keep the Peace and hopefully we'll get a big piece again with her on Saturday."

Accompanying Warbling on the flight from Kentucky will be her younger stablemate Buckleupbuttercup, who will shorten up to six furlongs for the Grade 3 Azalea. Buckleupbuttercup, a Grade 3 winner at Churchill this spring, is coming off a good fifth-place finish in the one-mile, Grade 1 Acorn on June 5. She should vie for favoritism in the Azalea with California invader Rapport and local sensation Pica Slew.