Hawthorne Racecourse (3/9/10)
Contact: Jim Miller
(708) 780-3700
First raceday chat today at Hawthorne
It doesn’t get much better for an early spring morning than it has been today. Sunny skies and a fast main track for the eight-race card. There is a chance of rain later in the day but hopefully we can get the races in before the rain begins to fall. Looking ahead to tomorrow, the rain is expected to stop in the morning, so plan on a fast track, but I will keep you updated if things change.
Today should be a fun day at Hawthorne and on the web as myself, Katie Mikolay, Ron Uchman and Peter Galassi will be joining the guys at Horse Player NOW to have a live raceday chat during our Hawthorne card. The chat will begin around 1:15 pm and go on through the day. Please join us and ask us anything.
Looking back at Saturday, the track played fairly, as we saw some prices come in on the Saturday card. There was a double on the card for both Tim Thornton and Mike Reavis as the duo hooked up to win the sixth race with Wild Expectations and the finale with High on Top. The double moved Thornton back into second in the rider standings with 14 wins, six behind leading jock Tanner Riggs. Eddie Perez is off to a hot start with 13 wins as is Inosencio Diego, who has 10 wins for the meet. Frank Kirby has sent out a bunch of fit and ready runners as he heads the leading trainer standings with 14 wins. Chris Dorris is also having a great meet as he already has saddled 10 winners, followed by Mike Reavis and Roger Brueggemann, each with 9 winners.
Two good races come back to back today in the fourth and the fifth as a very solid field of maidens line up in the fourth. All are in with a shot and we may see some strong runners come from this bunch. In the fifth, it appears that you could see a duel between On The Sneak and Windy City Cat. Both were impressive in maiden wins at Hawthorne and each has speed to burn.
Changes
Race 2
SCRATCH #3 – Gal Named Leslie
Race 3
SCRATCH #7 – B K Winks
Race 4
SCRATCH #8 – Ineedsaname
Best Bets
Race 5 - #2 – On The Sneak – This three-year-old colt is very well bred and ran a solid race in his debut. The runner-up in that spot, Kona Kid, is a solid runner who is in tomorrow, but On The Sneak blew the field away in his start. He may be pressed for the lead today, but I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be up to the challenge.
Race 8 - #4 – Dancing Kristal – I am curious about her today as she needed the rest after pulling up and bleeding through Lasix in her final start of the fall. If ready off the rest, she finds a ton of pace to chase and should be flying in the lane. You may catch a decent price as well and the recent workout pattern shows she should be ready.
