Elsers find colt who fits stakes honoring family member
The pair of $75,000 stakes for 2-year-olds at Parx Racing on Sunday have unusual conditions. The 6 1/2-furlong races are open only to horses who have spent at least 90 days in South Carolina.
While those conditions might seem highly restrictive, South Carolina, due to its temperate climate, has long been recognized as a good place for horses, especially young ones, to spend the winter. The two races at Parx, the Christopher Elser Memorial and the Donna Freyer, have attracted horses bred in Kentucky, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. The connections of 211 horses paid a nomination fee of $150 to the South Carolina Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to become eligible for the two races.
For the first time, the brothers Kip and George Elser have a horse entered in the Elser Memorial. Kip Elser operates Kirkwood Stables in Camden, S.C., which prepares yearlings and 2-year-olds for sales and racing. A number of good horses have gone through his barn, including Kentucky Oaks winners Gal in a Ruckus, Keeper Hill, and Plum Pretty; Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Alphabet Soup; champion sprinter Smoke Glacken; and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Soaring Softly.
The Elser Memorial is named for Kip’s son, Christopher, who was murdered in 2004 at a fraternity’s apartment house while attending Johns Hopkins University.
George Elser, who lives nearby, attends the race each year and presents the winner’s trophy. He and Kip have Halibut Cove, trained by Tom Proctor, in the Elser.
“We did not point our horse for it,” George Elser said. “We’ve always said we wouldn’t have a horse in the race just for the sake of having one, but if we ever did, let’s do it. It just so happens Halibut Cove is a colt. If we had a filly, she would be in the Donna Freyer. We’re happy to have a horse that belongs in the race.”
Halibut Cove won a two-turn Delaware Park maiden race. He is a contender in the Elser Memorial, which drew a field of eight, but the probable favorite is Morning Fire, trained by Keith Nations.
Morning Fire won a Parx maiden race in July and has finished second in both the Strike Your Colors at Delaware and the Pennsylvania-bred Mark McDermott at Presque Isle. He won a first-level allowance at Parx on Oct. 26, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 86.
In the 11-horse Donna Freyer, Eighth Wonder, who has impressively won Parx maiden and allowance races in her two career starts for trainer Dee Curry, is the horse to beat. Longtime Parx horseman Ron Glorioso also has a nice prospect in seven-length debut winner Cait the Great.