Hawthorne Stable Notes for Thursday, November 05, 2009

Another beautiful day leading into a beautiful weekend of racing at Hawthorne.  We are expecting sunny skies for the remainder of the week, to set things up for the Breeders’ Cup Festivities.  Don’t forget, we have a slight shift in post times both Friday and Saturday.  First post Friday will be 2:00 PM and Saturday we will kick things off at 12:35 PM.  Our races will run in between the races from Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup card.  I have made selections for all of the Breeders’ Cup Races and they are posted on our website under “Today’s Selections” then “Jim’s Selections.”  You will see a tendency for me for many of the races as I fully expect a foreign domination of the Cup Races.

Looking back at Wednesday’s card, the track played quite evenly with a couple of surprises even sprinkled in.  Following a nice closing win by Verdant in the fourth, and a solid score on the grass by Go Gert Go, Heaven’s Flame gave an impressive performance on the front-end in the day’s featured sixth race.  Ava Mae continued her fine Hawthorne form in the seventh and then another surprise as longshot Reason to Wink outlasted the field on the lead in the eighth.  Look for the main track to continue to play evenly and the turf remains yielding today, but continues to dry out under sunny skies.

Changes

Main Track – Fast

Turf – Yielding

Race 1

Scratch #5 – Publish

Race 5

Scratch #1a – Oh My Sweetie Pie

Race 7

Scratch #5 – Collidin

Race 8

Scratch #9 – Hey Julie

Race 9

Scratch #6 – Proudest Girl

Scratch #9 – Heavens Tour

Scratch #13 – Cinder Hall

Scratch #14 – Namaste Dream

Best Bets

Race 5 - #6 – Cynical Girl – She makes her second start today and gets a fast track.  In her debut race, she was squeezed back at the start and then came running in the lane.  A better break is the key and this barn has been strong all meet long.

Race 7 - #6 – Morality – In his first race off the claim, he takes a bit of a jump for another strong barn.  His style suits this field as he will sit in the second flight and look to run in the lane.  His price will be solid and the track suits him nicely.