Hawthorne Racecourse (4/24/10)
Contact: Jim Miller
(708) 780-3700
Closing weekend festivities at Hawthorne
Illinois Champions Day today at Hawthorne and it appears that Mother Nature is going to give us a break. After some overnight rain, the track was in great shape for training this morning and we will have a fast track for races today. There are some scattered showers in the forecast throughout the day but hopefully nothing that will affect a great 11-race card. We have the six Illinois bred stakes races with some very competitive fields and have added an all-stakes Pick 4 for races 7-10.
With only two days to go, Tanner Riggs sealed up the title for leading rider on Friday as he rode home four winners. He has extending his lead to 11 over Inez Karlsson and 13 over Tim Thornton with two days to go. Riggs will now have back-to-back titles at Hawthorne.
Trainer Frank Kirby continues his tremendous meet as he had Riggs aboard three winners yesterday. Kirby has won at a 20 percent clip this meet and wraps up his third consecutive training title at Hawthorne as he currently has 41 victories. There is a battle for second though as Chris Dorris and Roger Brueggemann are tied with 24 wins apiece.
Dorris does have the only four-time winner on the racetrack this meet as Shore Breeze Icon is four for four. Two horses have a chance to join him with four wins as Kathleen L runs in the Governor’s Lady Handicap today and Jungle Heart is entered in an Illinois allowance race tomorrow.
Don’t forget that tomorrow is our family day activities at Hawthorne. We will have live music and food and drink specials. Face painters will be on hand for the kids and we will have camel and ostrich racing on the track between races tomorrow. Those races will go off rain or shine as yours truly looks to defend his title aboard the camel and two-time Ostrich champ Pedro Flyer is back looking to make it three straight Ostrich victories.
Changes
Main Track – Fast
Race 1
Scratch #6 – Gold Simone
Race 2
Scratch #7 – Crypto Edition
Race 3
Scratch #1a – That’s Par
Scratch #3 – Toast The Ghost
Best Bets
Race 5 - #2 – Stonehouse – There won’t be a ton of value in here, but I think this is the lock of the day. Stonehouse has run in nothing but stakes races and has had a ton of success over the past two years. He won this race going away last year and he gets some pace to chase today. He beat Grade III runners in New Orleans two starts back and has a pair of works over this track in preparation for today’s race.
Race 8 - #1 – Wildeydsouthernboy – Pace is the key for this one today as Shrewd Operator will likely be a heavy favorite but that runner is making his first start of the year in this race. Wildeydsouthernboy has a couple of starts and looks to track the leader from a few lengths back. He should be a solid price and the rail trip will only help.
