Hawthorne Racecourse (3/3/11)
Contact: Jim Miller
(708) 780-3700
Hawthorne Vacates Card for Tuesday, March 8
STICKNEY, IL – Due to a lack of entries, Hawthorne Race Course will be vacating the racing card for Tuesday, March 8. Now into the fifth week of racing, this is the second week of four day racing scheduled at Hawthorne. While there were insufficient entries for the Tuesday card, races are expected to fill for the Wednesday, March 9 card and all following cards.
“This is not something we want to do, but at the same time, we don’t want to put out a subpar racing card either,” stated Assistant General Manager Jim Miller. “This entry day had 21 possible race options and did not draw a ton of interest. Cards early in the meet filled well and have tailed off in the past week, but more horses are shipping in and getting ready. In my mind, it is pointless to overextend the horse population when it doesn’t make sense. The races that filled or got close to filling will become our extras for Wednesday and we will hopefully produce better cards.”
“We have worked very hard to get our purse account back to a break even point, and we have done so,” Miller continued. “Why would I, or the horsemen, want to put out a card paying $170,000 in purses that may only generate $25,000 in purse revenue? The last thing we want to do is put ourselves in an unnecessary hole. Things will improve and we will continue to work with our horsemen to improve the product.”
Live racing at Hawthorne returns on Friday with a first post of 1:30 pm. Racing is scheduled on Friday and Saturday this week, followed by Wednesday, Friday and Saturday next week, then adding Tuesdays for the remainder of the meet.
Hawthorne Race Course is in its 102nd year of racing under Carey family ownership. Hawthorne races Friday and Saturday in February, beginning February 11. In March and April, live racing will take place every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday through the end of April. First post daily is 1:30 pm. For more information on racing at Hawthorne, visit our website at www.Hawthorneracecourse.com.
