Hawthorne: Rambling Richie uses his speed to steal Edgar Futurity

STICKNEY, Ill. - Rambling Richie, coming out of three sprint races, broke like a sprinter and, given the conditions, ran his first half-mile at not much slower than a sprint pace, but he opened a big enough lead turning for home to hold on for a 1 1/2- length win in the $113,575 Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity on Saturday at Hawthorne.

“He was tired and I was tired,” grinned winning rider E.T. Baird.

Trained by Larry Rivelli, Rambling Richie won his second stakes of the meet, having captured the six-furlong Sun Power Stakes in wire-to-wire fashion Nov. 9. He lost his career debut at Arlington by a nose, but won this third straight in the Edgar, restricted to Illinois-bred 2-year-olds kept eligible to the futurity through a series of nominating payments.

Baird specializes at getting horses deftly out of the gate, and Rambling Richie, a son of Lifestyle bred by Rivelli and co-owner Richard Ravin, broke swiftly and crossed over from post 8 to lead into the first turn. Company to his outside joined him through an opening quarter-mile in 24.32 seconds and a half in 48.33, testing splits on a deep, slow-playing surface that took several inches of snow through this morning. Rambling Richie dispatched his pace foes around the far turn, Baird went for the jugular at the quarter pole, sending his mount to a 5 1/2-length stretch-call lead too vast for the late-ralliers to surmount. A final time of 1:49.37 for 1 1/16 miles was nothing flashy, but Rambling Richie, who paid $5 as the favorite, took home a $68,145 winner’s check.

Baird said his mount, despite wearing blinkers and a shadow roll, was focused as much on his surroundings as the task at hand. A less than fully finished performance also was turned in by A Step Ahead, who rallied very wide to finish second, a half-length in front of Prado U.

“This horse is still green,” said Chris Block , who trains the runner-up, a full brother to Illinois-bred standout Giant Oak.