July, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Eric Eldin, 89, Passes Away

Classic-winning jockey Eric Eldin passed away at 89 on Sunday, Racing Post reported. Apprenticed to Ryan Jarvis, Eldin rode his first winner, Penfair (GB) (Fair Trial {GB}), in 1950, and his greatest win as a reinsman was aboard Front Row (Ire) (Epaulette {GB}), in the Irish 1000 Guineas. The Yorkshireman was also in the saddle for Lucasland (GB) (Lucero {Ire})'s wins in the 1966 July Cup and Diadem S. Abroad, Eldin also rode Derby winners in India and the Netherlands. All told, Eldin celebrated about 1,200 winners before hanging up his boots in 1979 and later becoming a trainer in Newmarket. He trained from 1981-1991, before retiring.

Eldrin had two daughters, Michelle and Lorraine. The latter married jockey Allan Mackay and the couple have two sons who also became jockeys-Jamie and Nicky.

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Well-Traveled Bonny South Installed Delaware Handicap Favorite

Juddmonte's Bonny South tops the 84th renewal of the $400,000, Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del., this Saturday. The filly and mare summer classic has attracted a field of seven. After being shortened to a mile and an eighth last year due to the pandemic, the race will return to the traditional distance of a mile and a quarter. The Delaware Handicap has been carded as the ninth race with an approximate post time of 5:15 p.m. ET.

This year, the 4-year-old daughter of Munnings is one for two. In her first outing in 2021, the Kentucky-bred trained by Brad Cox notched a head victory in the 1 1/16-mile, Grade 3 Doubledogdare at Keeneland on April 16. She followed by running second over the same distance in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park on June 5. Last year, Bonny South had a record of two wins and three seconds from six starts including a victory in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks and a trio of seconds in Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga, the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico and the Grade 2 Falls City at Churchill Downs. She has a career record of four wins and four seconds from ten starts with earnings $692,150.

“She is doing well,” said trainer Brad Cox. “She is a solid horse. You never really have to make any excuses for her and hopefully with a good trip on Saturday, she will get the job done. We have run her at Fair Grounds, Oaklawn, Pimlico, Keeneland, Saratoga, Belmont and obviously Churchill and she has run well at each time regardless of distance. She is a just a consistent and solid filly.”

Bonny South will be arriving in Delaware towards the end of the week.

“She is going to ship to Monmouth,” Cox said. “We are sending a little string to Monmouth and she will be part of that group. From there, we are going to ship her to Delaware the day before or the day of the race, so she will be there Friday or Saturday.”

A solid effort in the Delaware Handicap will punch a ticket for her to travel to upstate New York in August.

“If all goes well afterward, we will ship her to Saratoga and point for the Personal Ensign (August 28),” Cox said.

Trainer Joseph Saffie Jr. has entered both eFive Racing Thoroughbreds Gibberish and Ken Copenhaver's Queen Nekia.

It will be a homecoming for Queen Nekia as the 6-year-old daughter of Harlington will be returning to the track where she has a main track career record of five wins, two seconds and a third from ten starts. The Florida-bred has not raced at Delaware Park since her Delaware Certified Horse of the Year campaign in 2019.

In her 2021 debut, she posted a 1 ¾-length score in the Grade 3 Royal Delta going 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park on February 20. Since then, she had a pair of fourth-place efforts in the Top Flight Invitational at Aqueduct on April 10 and the aforementioned Phipps at Belmont on June 5. She has a career record of ten wins, six seconds and seven thirds from 34 starts with earnings of $528,876.

“She has run well at Delaware in the past, so hopefully she will run well again on Saturday,” said trainer Joseph Saffie Jr. “She was a proven solid filly before we claimed her back in December 2019 and she has gotten even better. She has done more than we could have ever asked for.”

Gibberish has a career mark of four wins, a second and a third from 11 starts with earnings of $170,310. In her most recent, the 4-year-old daughter of Lea ran second in the 1 1/16-mile Lady's Secret at Monmouth on June 6.

“Gibberish is also coming into the race well,” Saffie Jr. said. “She has won a stake, she beat Queen Nekia once and Queen Nekia beat her and she is coming off a good run at Monmouth. We feel like the mile and a quarter fits her nicely as well and are expecting a solid effort from her.”

$400,000 Grade 2 Delaware Handicap, fillies & mares 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/4 miles

PP	HORSE	OWNER	TRAINER	JOCKEY	Wg	OD
1	Gibberish	eFive Racing Thoroughbreds	Joseph Saffie Jr	Trevor McCarthy	118	8-1
2	Queen Nekia	Ken Copenhaver	Joseph Saffie Jr	Sheldon Russell	119	3-1
3	Dream Marie	Miracle's International	Matthew Williams	Joe Bravo	120	4-1
4	Saracosa	Chad Schumer	Cipriano Contreras	Emmanuel Esquiuel	116	10-1
5	Bonny South	Juddmonte	Brad Cox	Florent Geroux	123	3/2
6	Miss Marissa	Cammarota Racing	James Ryerson	Daniel Centeno	119	6-1
7	Final Cut	G. Watts Humphrey Jr	Victoria Oliver	Jaime Rodriguez	116	12-1

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After ‘Dog-Fight’ Triumph Over Firenze Fire, Mind Control To Target Forego

Rick Sacco of Red Oak Stable, which owns Mind Control in partnership with Madaket Stables, said the multiple Grade 1-winner was bright eyed and happy on Monday following a redemption victory in Sunday's Grade 2, $250,000 John A. Nerud at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., where he denied horse-for-course Firenze Fire an eighth victory over Big Sandy.

Making his first start for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, the Stay Thirsty bay ended an 0-for-6 slump, battling to the outside of Firenze Fire down the backstretch, ultimately getting the better of his foe by a head. Mind Control, who was reunited with Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, replicated a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure garnered in his previous victory in the Grade 3 Tom Fool in March 2020 at Aqueduct.

Mind Control arrived at the Nerud, a “Win and You're In” qualifier to the Breeders' Cup Sprint in November at Del Mar, off a close seventh in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs on May 1 for his former conditioner Gregg Sacco. Mind Control finished second to Mischevious Alex in his 2021 bow in the Grade 1 Carter on April 3 at the Big A.

Sacco said the seven-furlong Grade 1, $600,000 Forego on August 28 at Saratoga Race Course would likely be the next target. Both of Mind Control's previous Grade 1 scores came in seven-furlong events at the Spa, capturing the 2018 Hopeful and 2019 H. Allen Jerkens.

“The Forego is our plan,” Sacco said. “When the horse was turned over to Todd, I told him that we wanted to point to yesterday's race. I knew that would give him enough time to acclimate to Todd's program.

“He came out of it awesome,” Sacco added. “He jogged super this morning and he was bright eyed, so now he'll ship up to Saratoga, get freshened and they'll get him ready for the Forego.”

Mind Control, bred in Kentucky by Red Oak Stable, is out of the Lightnin N Thunder mare Feel That Fire.

“The win means so much to Red Oak because we own the mare Feel That Fire, and we own her mother [Ubetwereven] as well,” said Sacco. “We have such nice foals out of these two mares in the pipeline, so when Mind Control wins, it means a lot to the operation.”

Sacco said Mind Control encountered considerable barriers during his 2020 campaign, including a couple of sloppy tracks. He was a distant sixth and eighth over off going in the Grade 1 Runhappy Carter and last year's Forego, respectively.

“For him to win after so many losses in a row was great. It was a tough campaign last year,” Sacco said. “You train for so long and hit a couple of sloppy tracks. After the first time he ran in the slop, he disliked it. At Saratoga, it was slop again. Two times in his career, he had really sloppy tracks, but you're always working around the weather and working around getting them in the best possible condition. Last year was very tough. We didn't have the type of campaign we wanted to have.”

Sacco said the post-position draw may have played in favor of Mind Control, who exited post 2 Sunday to the outside of Firenze Fire.

“Todd, John and myself knew that Firenze Fire was going to go from the rail,” said Sacco. “There were others that showed good speed, but not of our quality. Johnny said he wasn't going to let the horse get away from him, and that if we got away clean, we were going to apply the pressure. He's a fighter and he doesn't lose those dog-fight type of races.”

Mind Control has a 2-year-old half-sister by Mineshaft named Goddess of Fire, who also will be trained by Pletcher.

“She breezed this morning at Saratoga in what was her second breeze for Todd,” Sacco said. “She has a good foundation underneath her and is a beautiful filly. Mind Control is a medium sized horse and will make a good stallion prospect. He is very correct and well-balanced. She's a great big filly, so I'm sure Todd will take his time with her.”

Despite the differences in conformation, Sacco said Mind Control and Goddess of Fire both display the same professional demeanor.

“Mind Control is very straight forward. You tack him up, he wants to go do his business and not be fooled around with,” Sacco said. “The family is straightforward in the same manner. The whole time we had her on the farm, she just wanted to train and do her business. Both are very businesslike.”

Feel That Fire has a yearling by Candy Ride and is currently in foal to Uncle Mo.

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Report: Two New Non-Racing Bidders Revealed for Arlington

Two additional bidders in the controversial Arlington International Racecourse sale have been revealed, and neither explicitly mentions the continuation of Thoroughbred racing as a component of their proposed development.

Eric Peterson of suburban Chicago's Daily Herald broke the story over the holiday weekend.

Of the four now-known bids submitted to seller Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), only one–submitted by the track's former president, Roy Arnold–calls for the track's grandstand and track to remain in place alongside a new 60-acre entertainment district and 300 units of housing.

Before this past weekend, the only other disclosed bid came from the Chicago Bears football team, which wants to raze the racetrack in favor of a new stadium.

According to the Herald, the two latest proposals are from Chicago-based Glenstar Properties and Schaumburg-based UrbanStreet Group LLC.

Glenstar's pitch is unconventional, the story stated, because it doesn't entail buying the land outright.

“Instead, the company would be track owner Churchill Downs' partner in a plan to sell off individual parcels for a mixed-use development with an 80- to 100-acre open recreational space as a major component of the 326-acre site,” Peterson reported.

“The more traditional way redevelopment happens is for someone to buy the property and assume all the risks,” Peterson wrote. “But under the Glenstar proposal, Churchill Downs would be part of the process and share in the risks to reap a higher reward.”

UrbanStreet representatives could not be reached for comment on the specifics of the firm's Arlington Park pitch. But Peterson wrote that the firm's approach in a redevelopment project of similar scope was to buy the entire site “and act as master developer as a variety of office, residential, retail and entertainment interests materialized.”

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