I'm not ready to call Hawthorne's track a speed rail bias today. There were sections of the card where it seemed that way....but what about races 1-3? It almost seemed like the inside was a detriment in those races. In the opener the chalk had a clear lead on the inside and got run down. Widish types won the next two. Then in the 4th race, the inside speed did go wire to wire. Granted, he went :25 and 49 and change so the pace likely was more of a factor than his path. THe 5th saw part of an entry go wire to wire on the inside. The 6th was a bit of a strange race as JZ Warrior was ovebet....the filly hadn't run back to her 2YO top and she was still eligible for a FNW1X....the other highly bet horse was a filly who break her maiden by over 10 earning a 89 in her only start. That 89 was earned at 5 1/2 furlongs, a distance Hawthorne rarely cards, and likely, a number that was not accurate. I didn't bet the winner, but she was usable. She'd run in stakes in 6 of her last 7 races and she hadn't run on dirt as a 3YO so one could see improvement as a possibility with her. There wasn't much speed in the Illinois Derby and one of the horses who figured to be in the top 2 setting the pace, Golden Spikes, was taking the blinkers off. In the 8th race, the Roussel firster stalked the pace wide to win. The heavy chalk wired in the 9th but in the 10th, another 1st time starter closed wide to win. Rail bias? Half the races were won by wide types so I can't say it was biased.
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