Hawthorne Racecourse (12/29/11)
Contact: Jim Miller
(708) 780-3700
Full fields at Hawthorne
Only three days left of racing for the fall Thoroughbred meet and it is great to see how well races have filled as we close out the year on a high note. The added purses this fall have allowed us to have additional racing days and while the weather rained us off the turf 16 times this fall compared to zero times last year, we have made up for that with fine December weather.
I expected, and am pleased to see that the additional racing days have led to increases in total overall handle onsite for the meet along with increases in total handle for the meet. Since we really can’t compare average handles for a 4-day week compared to 5 days, the total handle is the focus and while poor weather early in the meet put a slight damper on things, the strong December has made up for much of that. Final numbers will be released after the meet, but it is very nice to see that we have already surpassed the total handle figures from 2010.
On Wednesday, a pair of riders had multiple wins as bug boy Constantino Roman won a pair while Francisco Torres had three wins on the day. After coming into the meet late and getting off to a slow start, Torres has been on fire in recent weeks and will be returning for the spring Hawthorne meet.
Today we have a fine 10-race card with a nice maiden race in the second, a strong Illinois Allowance as the 7th and a nice optional claiming allowance race for the 8th. Temps are warm and we have a fast main track as jockey agent Joe Gunn will join me on Jim Versus today.
Changes
Track – Fast
Race 5
Scratch #1a – Tip of the Lake
Race 6
Scratch #6 – Iones Folly
Race 7
Scratch #7 – Bowman’s Secret
Race 8
Scratch #3 – Princess Freebie
Scratch #4 - Catinatree
