The final week of the 'winter' meet at Hawthorne Race Course kicked off in a big way on Friday, Jan. 29 as one lucky fan nailed the $84,000-plus carryover and Friday’s additional pool monies taking home a whopping $110,906 on the 20-cent minimum jackpot wager.
The winning ticket was sold at the Oregon 'hub.'
Friday’s very competitive 11-race program along with the carryover on the Jackpot High Five wager also helped produced the third $1 million handle in the past week alone at the Stickney plant.
“Looking at our projections based on the fact that you never know what kind of weather you will be dealing with in the Chicago area at this time of the year and the fact we did not know just how great the horse population would be we went into this hoping to be somewhere in $800,000 ballpark when it came to nightly handle,” said Hawthorne’s Director of Publicity and Racing Analyst Jim Miller. “Thanks to everyone on the staff working so hard together and the horsemen continuing to show their support we have far exceeded those goals and we’re looking forward to a very big final week of action here.”
Included in that final week of action will be series finals and consolations for the Whizzer R White, Suburban Downs, Ohyouprettything, Pretty Direct and the Dygert Trotting Series.
Racing Secretary Peter Hanley has reported that horsemen have continued to fill the entry box for the final week with more than 500 horses being dropped into the box for just the second-to-last weekend alone, prompting Hawthorne management to add an 11th race for Friday and Saturday.
“I’ve said it already, but I would like to say it again,” said a smiling Hanley. “The horsemen have been great to work with here and have been more than willing to get their horses into the box as much as possible. I certainly look forward to seeing them again for the summer meet, which starts in May, and I really hope that momentum we’ve picked up as this has gone along will continue to roll right into that meet.”
Racing is conducted on a Wednesday through Sunday schedule with the final night of the meeting scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6. Post time each night is 7:20 p.m. (central).
(Hawthorne Race Course)