'Hard-Knocking' Eltoninadress Just Loves to Win
Horses like Eltoninadress are the heart and soul of Thoroughbred racing, venerable campaigners who love to win.
The 5-year-old mare won for the ninth time from 31 starts when she repulsed precipitous class dropper Peppy Bolly to capture Wednesday’s second race by 2 ¼ lengths.
It was only a lowly claiming race with a purse of $19,000, but it once again showed the grit and determination Eltoninadress has displayed in her career. The Kentucky-bred daughter of Songandaprayer also has 10 seconds and six thirds, with earnings of more than $130,000.
“She’s got a few aches and pains, but nothing serious,” said trainer Robertino Diodoro, who has had Eltoninadress in his care three times, but lost her through a $10,000 claim to trainer Rodney Cone on Wednesday, the ninth time she has been haltered in her last 12 starts.
“She’s got lots of heart,” Diodoro said. “She’s just a solid mare. She’s just a race horse, yeah, a cheaper one, but she runs for everybody. She’s just a hard-knocking mare. She’s gutsy. She’ll run on any surface.”
Diodoro, like Eltoninadress, also runs pretty much on “any surface,” campaigning strings not only at Santa Anita, but Oaklawn Park and Turf Paradise.
“I’ve got just over a hundred in training right now,’ said the 40-year-old native of Calgary, who is accustomed to frosty weather, but says the recent cold snap on the West Coast is a challenge, even for someone born in The Great White North.
“We were in Phoenix the last four or five days, and that’s the coldest I’ve seen it,” Diodoro said. “In the afternoons it gets clear and sunny, but it doesn’t warm up that much.”
HRTV’S LIVE ANNOUNCEMENT OF ECLIPSE FINALISTS JAN. 7
Media and horsemen are invited to attend HRTV’s live announcement of the finalists for the 2014 Eclipse Awards next Wednesday, Jan. 7, at 8:30 a.m.
Hosted by Laffit Pincay III and Christina Blacker, with reporters Scott Hazelton and Caton Bredar, it will take place in the Baldwin Conference Room and on HRTV and HRTV.com.
The Eclipse Award winners will be announced on Jan. 17.
FINISH LINES: Jerry Hollendorfer says recent Malibu winner and Horse of the Year contender Shared Belief is doing “very good,” with the emphasis on “very,” at his Golden Gate headquarters as he prepares for the $500,000 San Antonio Stakes and a possible meeting with fellow Horse of the Year hopefuls California Chrome and Bayern on Feb. 7. “He’ll probably breeze up there on Tuesday,” the Hall of Fame trainer said . . . Hollendorfer sent Puerto Rican champion Tonito M., winner of the Grade III Oklahoma Derby, six furlongs on Santa Anita’s main track Friday in 1:12.80 for the Grade II, $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/16 miles . . . Grade I winner Tom’s Tribute, 5-2 choice on Jon White’s morning line odds for Saturday’s San Gabriel Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf, drew the No. 8 post position, but trainer Jim Cassidy was philosophical about the outside post position. “It’s OK,” he said. “It’s not a mile.” . . . Drayden Van Dyke, odds-on to win an Eclipse Award as 2014’s top apprentice rider, will lose his weight allowance on Jan. 19, two days after honors are announced at Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino . . . The popular Budweiser Clydesdales will perform on Santa Anita’s main track after Saturday’s third race. They will also be in the West Paddock from 12 noon to 2 p.m. should fans wish to take pictures of them.
Source: Ed Golden, Santa Anita Stable Notes