Hawthorne Race Course

Contact: Jim Miller
(708) 780-3700

Congrats to Giant Oak connections

Today is a day about congrats to some of our local horse owners and trainer as we send out huge Congrats to Rudy and Virginia Tarra and trainer Chris Block on their victory with Giant Oak in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap yesterday at Churchill Downs. After a brutal trip in the Breeders’ Cup Marathon and a fourth place finish, Giant Oak stayed there to train and trained very well into the Clark. After a bit of a slow pace, Giant Oak swooped up on the outside and was set down to a stretch duel in which he was headed at the wire. To the good fortune of this tough luck horse, Giant Oak was moved to first after the winner played pinball with Hawthorne Gold Cup Champ Redding Colliery for about half a mile. The disqualification made the 1-2 finishers in the Hawthorne Gold Cup the 1-2 finishers in the Grade 1 Clark! We congratulate the connections and expect to see more from Illinois-bred Champion Giant Oak next season.

In regards to Chris Block, he had the big day Friday but also grabbed a Grade 2 victory at Churchill Thursday when another Illinois-bred, Dundalk Dust, splashed through the slop and ran on to the win in the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap. A nice weekend for a fine pair of Illinois-breds and the great people involved with these horses.

Day one of the Hawthorne Handicapping finals produced some big payouts with multiple folks earning thousands of dollars. They are in position to cash for the top prize, but this is a two-day contest and anything can happen. Additionally, there is still a Horseplayer World Series spot up for grabs today for the top earner. The Saturday card is very tough and expect the track to play evenly once again as it did yesterday.

A reminder, we have an online chat at www.HorseplayerNow.comas Joe Kristufek and myself will be covering the nine race Hawthorne card. Joe had a huge day handicapping, so hopefully he can continue his winning ways. The chat begins at 1:15 pm and will run through the entire racing afternoon.

Changes

Main Track – Fast

Race 4

Scratch #6 – The Mizzus

Race 7

Scratch #3 – Shine Ola
Scratch #5 – Wildwood Domain

Race 9

Scratch #13 – Online Code