eddie delahoussaye | Horse Racing Free Tips

Breaking sharply from the far outside in a field of seven, favored Big Runnuer made the lead and never looked back, as he took Friday's main event on opening day at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., the Grade 2, $200,000 Eddie D Stakes, winning by one length under upstart Juan Hernandez, thus providing the 28-year-old native of Veracruz, Mexico, with his first ever Santa Anita stakes win. Trained by Victor Garcia and owned by his father “King” Juan Garcia, Big Runneur got 5 1/2 furlongs on turf in 1:01.15.

A winner of his last two races, most recently the 5 1/2-furlong Siren Lure Stakes at Santa Anita on June 21, Big Runnuer, a 5-year-old horse by Stormy Atlantic, had been ridden in his last two starts by Ruben Fuentes.

“I had never ridden him,so I asked Ruben (who is currently serving a riding suspension) what he knew about him,” said Hernandez. “He told me he was a very nice horse with natural speed. It looked like we had some speed inside of us, so I thought we'd stay where we were and stay comfortable. But he broke sharp and when we cleared them and got to the rail, it was over. I asked him to change leads and it was no problem. He's a nice horse.”

Off at 3-2, Big Runneur, who is now four for five on the Santa Anita grass, paid $5.00, $3.20 and $2.60.

“He broke sharp (today), other times he was a jump or a jump and a half slow, but this time he broke sharp and he took the lead so easily,” said Garcia, whose father Juan was a legendary conditioner at Agua Caliente, just south of San Diego. “I saw the first fraction at 21 (seconds) and is said, 'Well, he's not going too fast. With the blinkers on, he is more focused on the race.”

Out of the Elusive Quality mare Elusive Luci, Big Runneur, with his first graded stakes victory in-hand, is now 7-4-1-2 overall and with the winner's share of $120,000, he has earnings of $253,660.

The second choice at 5-2, Doug O'Neill's Wildman Jack came rolling from off the pace to be second by 1 ¾ lengths over Grit and Curiosity. With Abel Cedillo up. “Wildman” paid $3.60 and $2.80.

Ridden by Luis Saez, Grit and Curiosity was off at 7-1 and paid $3.60 to show.

Fractions on the race were 21.96, 43.98 and 55.23.

Named in honor of retired all-time great Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, the Eddie D was run as the Morvich Stakees prior to being renamed in 2012. Delahoussaye, America's leading rider by wins in 1978, won the 1984 Morvich aboard the Eddie Gregson-trained Tsunami Slew.

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A certified all-time great and longtime member of Racing's Hall of Fame, Eddie Delahoussaye, for whom Friday's main event at Santa Anita, the Grade 2, $200,000 Eddie D Stakes, is named, will not be on-hand to present the winner's trophy along with his wife Juanita.

“With all the Covid stuff going on, we just weren't able to make it out this year,” said the popular Cajun native from his home in Lafayette, La. “At my age (69), you never know what you're gonna get! Hopefully things will get back to normal and we can make the trip again next year.”

Retired due to injury in 2003, Delahoussaye, 69, who has worked part time as a blood stock agent and has dabbled in racehorse ownership himself, is in the process of taking on a new role—that of racing commissioner with the state of Louisiana. Although he won't be officially sworn in until the Louisiana state legislature reconvenes in June, he's serving in the role of apprentice commissioner in the interim.

“I've always felt that horsemen should have a say on these commissions,” said Delahoussaye. “I was asked a few years ago in California to come on the board (CHRB), but I didn't feel it was the right time. There's been a lot of people here saying that we need a change and they asked me if I could help to see if we could help racing and make it better. The biggest issue right now is the devastation in Lake Charles which was caused by the hurricane (Laura).

“The HBPA is trying to figure out if Delta Downs is going to run or if they should run. They were supposed to open Oct. 5, now they're saying they might open Nov. 27…So, we've got trainers maybe sitting out two or three months, owners are gonna leave the business…It looks like Louisiana Downs is the only place maybe we can go because Boyd Gaming won't open up Evangeline Downs.”

When asked what he thought the biggest current issue or issues facing racing, nationally, are, Delahoussaye didn't hesitate.

“To me, it's education. Communicating with the public and educating people properly. I think we've gone about it in the wrong way…We have people that are not in this game, trying to change this game and I think that's what going to hurt this game. It's not a game, it's multi-billion dollar business. Instead of perception, we need to deal in facts. We have people in this industry that are new and they think differently.

“There's a lot of things that are right about our industry and not everything needs to be changed. I just don't get it…The people in this game love the animals and I think we need to educate people and we have not done that. We should have done this a long time ago, that's just my opinion.”

America's leading rider by wins with 384 in 1978, Delahoussaye, who won seven Breeders' Cup races, including the inaugural Distaff with Princess Rooney at Hollywood Park in 1984 and the Classic with A.P. Indy at Gulfstream in 1992, retired with 6,384 career wins.

He cemented his status as one of the nation's elite riders by winning the Kentucky Derby in successive years, in 1982 with Gato Del Sol and in 1983 with Sunny's Halo.

“I think Santa Anita has done a great job getting racing going with everything that's gone on this year,” he said. “Hopefully, things will continue to get better. I love this sport and I really hope we can get it back to where it was before.”

A winner of the 1981 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, Delahoussaye was always known as a plain spoken advocate for horse and rider safety and is one of the most highly respected riders of any era.

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