Hawthorne Racecourse (4/17/10)
Contact: Jim Miller
(708) 780-3700
Comings and goings at Hawthorne on Sixty Sails day
A wonderful day outside! We have sunny skies, a fast main track and a firm turf course for today’s nine-race card.
Today marks the end of the riding career of jockey Carlos Silva. A great guy who has had a tremendous career, Silva has won over 3,500 races in a career spanning 33 years. He has won numerous stakes races and has been a fixture in Illinois. He will be retiring from riding to become a jock’s agent for jockey Brandon Meier and I expect him to do very well.
Today is also the running of the Grade III $200,000 Sixty Sails Handicap as a fine field of eight lines up for the stakes event. Marty Wolfson has a pair of tough runners in the race but Todd Pletcher has a speedy one on the outside who can contend, as well as we welcome jockey Michael Baze to Illinois as he prepares to summer at Arlington Park.
Not many scratches on the card and we have some very competitive races.
Changes
Main Track – Fast
Turf – Firm
Race 1
Scratch #1 – Big Vic
Race 2
Scratch #7 – Rambunctious Spy
Race 3
Scratch #1 – Mambo Galliano
Best Bets
Race 8 - #8 – Life at Ten – Despite the outside post, this five-year-old mare looks to be getting into her best form of her career right now as she has gotten better the longer she goes. She has enough speed to get good position early and Pletcher has had tremendous success at Hawthorne throughout his career.
Race 9 - #1 – Teen – This is a full field, but the large field should provide some value as well. There is some pace as well so I’m hoping that Teen sits back a bit off the leaders and tries to run them down in the lane. The record at Hawthorne is solid though and maybe we get 4-1.
