HAWTHORNE NOTES
| Hawthorne Racecourse daily notes (3/25/03) Contact: Jim Miller Lady Hallie Saturday, Bourque 10 Away, Illinois Derby on ESPN, ChiTown Update Lady Hallie Weights Out Saturday marks the official opening of the stakes season as the $100,000 Lady Hallie Handicap takes place. There are 13 nominated to the mile and a sixteenth event for older fillies and mares. Highweight for the Lady Hallie is Bare Necessities - 121, followed by Ifyouprefersilver - 118 and Lakenheath - 116. Rounding out the noms are: Curious Conundrum - 115; Reason to Talk - 115; Katy Kat - 114; Short Note - 114; Majority Whip - 113; Pass The Pepper - 113; Barney's Mistress - 112; Persimmon Ridge - 112; Summer Delight - 112; and Vicki Vallencourt - 112. The Lady Hallie traditionally is a local prep for the Grade 3 Sixty Sails Handicap. The $250,000 Sixty Sails will be run on April 26. Bourque 10 Away from 3,000 Jockey Curt Bourque won a race each day last weekend to get within 10 victories of 3,000 for his career. Bourque guided home Smoke Chaser on Saturday to a win in the Kissapotamus Stakes and won Sunday aboard Storm Chronicle. Bourque takes Tuesday off to head to New Orleans for his daughter's confirmation. He'll be back to ride on Friday Hawthorne on the Air On Saturday April 5, the Grade 2, $500,000 Illinois Derby takes place and will be featured on ESPN radio and TV outlets. The race will be a part of ESPN TV's "Racing to the Derby" program that will air from 4:00 - 5:00 CDT. In addition, ESPN radio will be here all day with a live broadcast from Hawthorne surrounding the Chicago White Sox radio broadcast. Post time for the Illinois Derby is 4:25 CDT. Challenge Winds Down After 13 days, the ChiTown Challenge has dwindled down quickly. The on-site challenge started with 122 contestants and only 2 remain. Top prize for the on-site contest is 125,000 Club Hawthorne Points. The on-line challenge started at 1,572 contestants and is down to 29 remaining. The online challenge offers $5,000 to the top prize-winner. ### |