IDAHO HORSEWOMAN HAS ALOTALUCK WITH CALIFORNIA-BRED
Eleanor Martin has traveled to Zia Park to see Alotaluck compete
With one mare and decades of patience, Eleanor Martin knows it is never too late to get lucky.
At the age of 80, the lifelong Idaho horsewoman got her first taste of graded stakes glory with the aptly named 3-year-old Alotaluck, a son of her only current broodmare, Colinda Dawn.
True, her 50-year-plus wait didn’t come with a win, but the California-bred gelding by Sir Prancealot did produce a runner-up finish in last February’s $400,000 Sunland Derby (G3). Then Martin had to delay enjoying her milestone for seven months while she successfully appealed a Sunland Park stewards’ decision to disqualify the rider of Alotaluck for excessive use of his whip and declaring Alotaluck a non-starter.
It all worked out in Martin’s favor with Alotaluck’s finish reinstated—as well as the $85,360 in purse money he earned—and she and her horse have moved on. The dark bay, trained by Martin’s nephew, Ty J. Garrett, has banked $240,788 while winning three of seven lifetime starts with a pair of seconds. He was most recently fourth with a wide trip in the listed $300,000 Zia Park Derby Nov. 26.
Martin has been around horses her entire life.
“I grew up on a ranch where my dad had Quarter Horses,” she said. “I was hooked on it early.”
She later gravitated toward Thoroughbreds. She and her husband, Donald, owned a cattle ranch near Notus, Idaho, a small community in Canyon County, for 37 years. Martin bred and raised horses there while also working as a rural mail carrier for the United States Postal Service for 30 years.
“My husband was much more interested in the cattle,” Martin said. “Horses were more my passion. He kind of went along with it.”
After Donald died in 2012, Martin sold the cattle ranch. She bought a home with some acreage in Caldwell, in western Idaho, on the outskirts of the Boise metropolitan area, where she lives by herself, mostly growing hay. She has a son, James, and a grandson, Dirk, who live in Kentucky.
Since the 1970s, breeding racehorses on a small scale has been a part of her life. For a time, she also trained and raced at Les Bois Park in Boise, she said.
“I was maybe not the best trainer, but I had a lot of fun doing it,” Martin said.
She’s enjoyed the ride with Alotaluck, traveling to New Mexico to see him race.
I had some nice horses at Les Bois, but (Alotaluck is) the best horse I’ve had.” — Eleanor Martin
“His second in the Sunland Derby was really great,” Martin said. “I had some nice horses at Les Bois, but he’s the best horse I’ve had.”
Known around the Garrett barn as “Levi,” Alotaluck, she added, is “a pretty nice horse, but he can be kind of obnoxious. I think he’s one of those that gelding helped.”
Alotaluck wins 2024 Mine That Bird Stakes at Sunland Park by daylight
Alotaluck began his career with a 211⁄22-length win over maidens last December at Zia, then followed that up five weeks later with a second, two lengths behind Lucky Jeremy, in the Riley Allison Derby at Sunland. The Sunland Derby followed.
Drifting out several paths in the stretch, Alotaluck finished 211⁄22 lengths behind the victorious Stronghold, who would go on to capture the Santa Anita Derby (G1). Stewards reviewing the race determined that jockey Oscar Ceballos had exceeded the allotted six strikes with his whip. They disqualified and suspended the rider and declared Alotaluck a nonstarter. Ceballos argued unsuccessfully that most of the 11 strikes he used were to Alotaluck’s right shoulder in an effort to get his mount to correct his stride for the sake of safety, not to make the horse run faster.
But the stewards’ decision was confirmed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. So, Martin and Ceballos turned to the Federal Trade Commission. On Oct. 4, an administrative law judge ruled in their favor. The decision also vacated a fine and a three-day suspension of the jockey.
Alotaluck returned to Sunland six weeks after the Sunland Park Derby with a 211⁄22-length triumph in the $125,000 Mine That Bird Derby as the 1-20 favorite. In two subsequent starts prior to his Zia Park Derby effort, he won an off-the-turf allowance tilt at Canterbury Park and was last of 10 after tiring in the stretch in the Hawthorne Derby.
Prior to Alotaluck, Martin said her best horse was Colorado-bred stakes-placed Galactic Princess, owned in partnership with Mark Hillman’s Hilltop Stable. Galactic Princess won nine of 17 races for the partnership and earned $178,879. 10 of 23 races for the partnership and earned $214,934.
Martin owns two other horses, Danzing Miner and Jillian, out of the 12-year-old Colinda Dawn, a homebred daughter of Lucks Mine (by Mineshaft).
Colinda Dawn won four of 12 races in her career, including the Colorado Derby at Arapahoe Park. Martin bought Colinda Dawn’s granddam, All Present, by Tom Rolfe, for $500 in foal to Hey Rob at the Idaho Thoroughbred Association mixed sale in 2002.
Danzing Miner, a 4-year-old gelding by Danzing Candy also bred in California and trained by Garrett, won his only start against maidens in September 2023 at Arapahoe. He came out of the race injured and is only now readying to return to action, Martin said.
Jillian is a 2-year-old Cal-bred filly by Grazen and has yet to begin training for Garrett.
The mare’s two most recent foals, both by Clubhouse Ride, died of breech birth. Colinda Dawn has been bred back to Sir Prancealot for 2025.
Martin said she chose Colinda Dawn as a broodmare because of her excellent temperament.
“We’re just hoping (the loss of) those earlier foals were bad luck,” she said.