Hawthorne Racecourse (4/30/11)
Contact: Jim Miller
(708) 780-3700
Closing day at Hawthorne
It’s the final day of the spring meet and I must say that there have been a lot of ups and downs, but I am a bit ready for a rest. Following a great fall meet, we had just about everything dished at us this year. Ten days before the meet began, we faced a colossal blizzard that dumped over 20 inches of snow on us. We were able to dig out of that. Unfortunately, missed training put many people behind and we faced short fields in March. Losing 10-12 horses a day to the six-weeks earlier opening of Fairmount Park this year added to the struggles and then rain in the final two weeks kept us without a single turf race ran in the spring. That being said, there was a lot of good out of the meet too.
With some of the worst weather conditions in history, our track crew did a tremendous job maintaining the racing surface. While we faced some brutal conditions, the track was only closed for training a total of 4 days from January 1 through the end of the meet. A fine job done by Track Superintendant Greg Cardenas and his track crew.
Those who were ready to run benefitted greatly this meet. Joel Berndt, Frank Kirby, Roger Brueggemann and Chris Dorris, who year in a year out help us fill races, did so once again and I am forever grateful to them. But this year the help that we received from Manny Perez, Mosies Yanez, George Leonard and Mark Cristel was huge as all benefitted from great meets. Smaller strings from Jimmy DiVito and Dee Poulos also had great meets because their horses were ready. Thos who came to run this spring took full advantage of the money to be won.
As we close out the meet today, there are still a pair of races to be decided. The race for leading jock has been back and forth all meet long. A three-bagger yesterday by jockey Jozbin Santana put him one win ahead of Tanner Riggs entering today’s card. Santana rides 6 today while Riggs rides 9, so this race will go down to the wire.
The training race is also up for grabs as Joel Berndt looks for back-to-back training titles coming off a fall meet victory as he is three wins ahead of Frank Kirby, who won the title last spring, entering today’s card. Berndt has 4 runners in today while Kirby has 6 entered. This is another race that could go to the final race of the day.
As always, I want to Thank everyone for their support of the meet and to let you know that we will be open daily for full card simulcasting all summer long. We are expecting a big weekend next weekend with the running of the Kentucky Derby and our entire building will be open next Saturday.
Changes
Main Track – Fast
Race 2
Scratch #4 = Kathy’s Man
Race 3
Scratch #3 – College Blues
Race 4
Scratch #1 – Lethal
Race 7
Scratch #2 – Friendly Banter
Scratch #5 – Forgive Your Sins
Race 8
Scratch #1 – Loyal Lightfoot
Race 10
Scratch #5 – Laynee Bug
Hawthorne Race Course is in its 102nd year of racing under Carey family ownership. Hawthorne races Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in April. First post daily is 1:30 pm with Friday’s first post at 2:35 pm. For more information on racing at Hawthorne, visit our website at www.Hawthorneracecourse.com.
