No ignoring Mind Your Own Biz in Jim Edgar Illinois Juvenile

Sure, the Arlington meet annually forms the heart of trainer Larry Rivelli’s racing season, but he still has horses in Chicago and one of them, Mind Your Own Biz, will take all kinds of beating Saturday at Hawthorne in the $50,000 Jim Edgar Illinois Juvenile.

The Edgar used to be worth $100,000, was called the Futurity, and was contested around two turns. Now it’s a 6 1/2-furlong sprint that, owing to sharp declines in the Illinois foal crop, struggles to attract entrants. There are only six in this year’s renewal, and Mind Your Own Biz will be bet below his even-money morning-line odds in Saturday’s third race.

Mind Your Own Biz, a Fed Biz colt bred by Richard Ravin and co-owned by Ravin and Vince Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope LLC, only has started once, but his front-running 1 1/4-length debut victory last month at Hawthorne makes him look formidable in this soft spot.

Baba Lou and A Merry Heart never have started, while the horse that looks second best, Rip It Ryan, was runner-up to Mind Your Own Biz in their common last race, despite having a one-start experience edge. Palago and Elizabeth’s Ghost were last-out Hawthorne maiden sprint winners, but both lack Mind Your Own Biz’s early pace and will be playing catch-up on a racing surface that often favors front-runners this time of year.

Loveberry on track for title

Jareth Loveberry only decided to ride the Hawthorne fall-winter meet at the last minute, and shortly after establishing himself nearly left for New York, but in the end, Loveberry is likely to be leading rider when this meet ends Dec. 28. Loveberry came into the penultimate two-day racing week of the season with 37 winners, eight more than Julio Felix, second in the jockey standings.

Loveberry, 32, is a regular during the summer at Canterbury Park and was headed to Remington this fall when he changed course.

“I had an agent there and was named on a horse, but I got a call the last day at Canterbury and made a quick decision to go to Hawthorne,” Loveberry said.

Loveberry knows Hawthorne racing secretary Allen Plever from their common experience years ago in Michigan racing. There was that connection, and the agent Steve Leving was looking for a rider with Jose Valdivia Jr. having left for California. Valdivia was the regular rider for trainer Larry Rivelli, and when Loveberry called Rivelli to inquire about business at Hawthorne, Rivelli told him to come.

Loveberry started riding winners right away this fall but nearly left for Aqueduct in November.

“I was going. I had an agent who was putting me in the condition book at Aqueduct, but two days later he called me and said he’d taken somebody else,” Loveberry said.

Instead, Loveberry stayed through the cold, dark Hawthorne meet – which is easier to take when you’re leading rider. He’s off to Oaklawn Park next month but will consider returning to Chicago – and Leving – for the Arlington meet next summer.

◗ Hugh Robertson had a three-win lead in the Hawthorne trainer standings entering this week’s racing. Robertson has been operating a successful racing stable since 1971 and long has been a mainstay on the Chicago circuit, but said he never has won a training title at any track.