Hawthorne Racecourse (10/2/10)
Contact: Jim Miller
(708) 780-3700
Fast and firm for Gold Cup Day at Hawthorne
Today is Gold Cup Day here at Hawthorne as we are part of a great racing day across the nation. New York has a day full of stakes races as does California, Maryland and Indiana. We have an excellent card here with full fields and a Late Pick 4 Carryover in excess of $16,000.
We did have a little bit of rain overnight, but nothing to affect the racing at all. We have a fast main track and a firm turf course today. Looking back at yesterday, we saw a couple of different things. First, the track played very evenly throughout the day as horses won races while on the lead, and from the back of the pack. Horses won inside and outside as well. One misperception of many players is that the track is slow or deep. That isn’t the case, what the biggest difference is the move from the Polytrack for many horses to the conventional dirt. The Polytrack is much more conducive to fast times, especially when the track is wet, as it tightens up tremendously, while this track is one that horses often need a work or a race over as fitness is tested much more over the conventional dirt. Regardless, payouts were very nice yesterday and it made for a great wagering card!
Changes
Main Track – Fast
Turf Course – Firm
Race 2
Scratch #14 – Mr. Posh
Race 3
Scratch #12 – Image of Sugar
Race 4
Scratch #6 – Foxtrot Oscar
Race 5
Scratch #14 – Picadilly Street
Race 6
Scratch #13 – Brothers Nicholas
Scratch #14 – Macho Toro
Race 7
Scratch #13 – Truth of the Irish
Featured Race of the Day
The Featured Race of the Day is the 74th running of the Grade II $250,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap. The Gold Cup goes as the 8th race on the card with a field of eight runners. The race appears to have a tremendous amount of early speed, but there really are only two committed front-runners in Shadowbdancing and Arcodoro. While I think the pace will be contested, I wouldn’t be completely surprised to see Shadowbdancing open up by three early if others chose to take back. Going to route of pace, I will look to #7 – Temple City in the Gold Cup. The California invader makes his dirt debut as he tests the surface prior to a possible run on Breeders’ Cup Day. He has a good stalking style and has been in town for nearly a week. He has been able to gallop over the track to get a feel for it and gets a jock in Baird who has won many big races here in the past.
