Hawthorne Stable Notes for Friday, October 30, 2009

 

I love rain….no, wait, I hate rain!!!!  Today is the fifth Friday of the meet. It has rained all five Friday’s this meet. Today marks the 21^st day of rain in the first 30 days of the month. We are currently at 6.16 inches of rain this month, and it is raining right now.  This makes it the second wettest October in history (sorry, 1927 beat us out).

 

We have had one day all meet with a firm turf, that was opening day…..it rained that night.  For comparison’s sakes, last October we had 2.53 inches of rain and it rained 12 days in the month.  Here’s hoping November is dry and mild.

 

Looking at today’s card, what was a tremendous card with many full fields is now still a decent card, but we do have our share of scratches.  The main track is sloppy and we are off the turf.  Looking at the forecast (which will probably be wrong), the rain is supposed to lighten up, and stop, late this afternoon. The weekend looks beautiful for our Illinois Festival of Racing, and expected winds throughout the evening into tomorrow will help the track to dry out for our six $100,000 stakes races.

 

Do not plan for turf tomorrow, but I will wait until the morning to take a final look, just based on the wind, and to get a gauge on how things look for Sunday.

 

Changes

 

Main Track – Sloppy

Turf – Off

 

Race 2

Scratch #9 – Classic Alaskan

 

Race 3

Scratch #8 – Bold Blessings

 

Race 4 – Off turf – 1 Mile 70 yards

Scratch #1a – Kaddish

Scratch #2 – Wistful Smile

Scratch #4 – Classic Recital

Scratch #7 – Relvado

Scratch #11 – Repent N Receive

 

Race 5

Scratch #13 – Pepperment Fudge

Scratch #14 – Princess Moody

 

Race 6

Scratch #7 – Eleuterio

 

Race 7

Scratch #5 – Sanpit Cart

Scratch #9 – Jane’s Gold

Scratch #12 – Rooville

Scratch #13 – Secretly Taken

Scratch #14 – I Don’t Think So

 

Race 8

Scratch #1 – Shipmate

Scratch #5 – Hangover Cure

Scratch #7 – Flattest

Scratch #10 – American Thunder

Scratch #11 – Gallantin Guy

Scratch #13 – Whatsat

Scratch #14 – Bold Days

 

Race 9

Scratch #2 – Suspicious Package

Scratch #4 – Stormyborealis

Scratch #9 – Bottom Les Pit

Scratch #11 – Schaefer

Scratch #14 – Keeps Me Broke

 

Best Bets

 

Race 4 - #5 – Tactics School – A race that has come off the turf, this one raced in a similar situation last starts and ran on to a good fourth-place effort.  He has run second in the slop before and looks to find a field that he can handle.

 

Race 6 - #4 – Rimini Rebel – Another runner that has been a victim of races coming off the turf.  He actually ran his best career race last time out on the dirt as he had a good stalking trip.  I expect him to get a similar trip today and pounce in the lane.