Top two from Sun Power return for Edgar Futurity
STICKNEY, Ill. -- The Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity on Saturday at Hawthorne looks a lot like the Nov. 7 Sun Power at Hawthorne.
Four of the seven horses from the Sun Power, including the top two home, Wildwood Sicilian and Fast Jack, run back in the Edgar. Those four are joined by first-time starter Dust Dancer in a 6 1/2-furlong race that, like the Sun Power, is for Illinois-bred 2-year-olds. Unlike the Sun Power, which is just a stakes race, the Futurity, like futurities in general, required a series of nominating payments over a period of months to keep a horse eligible.
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The fact that connections of only five horses were willing to do so highlights a bleak future for Illinois racing.
Wildwood Sicilian, trained by Scott Becker for Charles Ritter, won the Sun Power by four lengths, a 5-1 shot beating 4-5 favorite Fast Jack, who has the same connections, Becker and Ritter. The Sun Power was contested over six furlongs, Wildwood Sicilian was going away at the finish, and the added half-furlong of the Edgar likely favors Wildwood Sicilian.
The two Becker-trained horses debuted in the same FanDuel Sportsbook and Horseracing Illinois-bred maiden race in June, Fast Jack going wire to wire, but that was an early-season short sprint over 4 1/2 furlongs, and Wildwood Sicilian appears to have developed more than his stablemate during 2021.