Pass the Gravy appears solid in Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity

It snowed a bit in the Chicago area Wednesday night, which means the Chicago racing season is drawing to a close. And if the Chicago racing season is drawing to a close, it’s time for the Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity, the annual stakes finale on the Chicago circuit.

The Edgar, at Hawthorne, used to have a $100,000 purse, but now it is $50,000, and a starkly diminished Illinois foal crop has drained the pool of potential young talent eligible for the two-turn dirt race.

Last Saturday at Hawthorne, trainer Larry Rivelli sent out the distance-challenged, very vulnerable favorite Richie’slilwildcat, who indeed flamed out in the Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante, another route race. Rivelli has the 8-5 morning-line chalk for the Edgar, a horse named Pass the Gravy, but this week’s favorite looks much more substantive.

Pass the Gravy, one of nine entered, has won 2 of 3 starts and romped last out going six furlongs at Hawthorne in the Sun Power Stakes. On Saturday, he stretches to 1 1/16 miles, but as a son of Afleet Alex he has the pedigree to stay the trip married to the talent to win.

Ghaaleb’s Winner and Sir Anthony appear to be Pass the Gravy’s principal rivals. Ghaaleb’s Winner never really looked comfortable on the muddy track over which the Sun Power was contested and finished third as the heavy favorite. By the young Unbridled’s Song stallion Ghaaleb, he’s out of an Air Forbes Won mare and has a decent chance to get the two-turn trip.

Sir Anthony also disappointed in the Sun Power, but the Richard Otto homebred, trained by Tony Mitchell, has the best dirt-route pedigree in the race.

The Edgar goes as race 6, post time 3:25 Central. Mid-December in Chicago, it’s almost dark by then, appropriate as the curtain comes down on Chicago’s stakes season for another year.