ESPN Horse Racing

Illinois Champions Day
Saturday, Nov. 1, Hawthorne

The Low-Down: One of three such festivals presented throughout the year at the Chicagoland racetracks, Illinois Champions Day features a six-pack of $100,000 stakes restricted to Prairie Staters.

The millionaire FORT PRADO, who has only raced on dirt five times in his 48-race career, headlines a field of seven for the Lightning Jet Handicap. With the way the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint panned out (won by longshot closer Desert Code), perhaps he could have gotten a piece of that million-dollar pie. Instead the 7-year-old son of El Prado will take on the likes of defending champ MIGHTY RULE, HIGH EXPECTATIONS, and CLASSIC R. J. in this dirt dash.

Top contenders in the other five stakes include: Bucks Boy (male routers) -- STONEHOUSE, BEST BUDDY, and the up and coming EL REAL MADRID; Showtime Deb (2yo fillies) -- MAMMA LINA, MUSTANG STACEY, TIMELESS MISS, and SAXXY ROSE LEE; Sun Power (2yo males) -- MY DOMINICK JAMES, CAPT. BULLET BOB, and DEVIL'S HALO; Powerless (female sprinters) -- PRETTY JENNY, SECRET KIN, MAGNETIC MISS, and LUNE ROUGE; and the Illini Princess (female routers) -- STOP A TRAIN, APPLE MARTINI, MODJADJI, HOME'S THE BEST, LABAR and LAKEAWAY.

Our Eyes: Let's take it race by race. In the Lightning Jet, MIGHTY RULE and HIGH EXPECTATIONS will relish the return to dirt. The speedy sophomore CLASSIC R. J. tossed in an unexpected clunker last out, and FORT PRADO is a mystery on dirt. STONEHOUSE is the class of the Bucks Boy, but EL REAL MADRID and BEST BUDDY are up and coming 3-year-olds, and BATTEN looks rested and ready to fire fresh. The $250,000 buy MAMMA LINA lost a narrow decision to fellow Showtime Deb participant MUSTANG STACEY in a recent allowance. It will be interesting to see where the money goes. TIMELESS MISS was a creditable third against the boys in an open allowance last out, and SAXXY ROSE LEE finished a game third behind Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf participant Sugar Mom in the Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies in her most recent go. MY DOMINICK JAMES is the undisputed class of the Sun Power, but CAPT. BULLET BOB and DEVIL'S HALO both put in stakes caliber performances with respective wins over the Hawthorne dirt, a surface that "Dominick" has yet to try. PRETTY JENNY loves it at Hawthorne, and she's trained like a bear leading up to the Powerless. MAGNETIC MISS got back on track in her most recent run, SECRET KIN is 4-for-7 over Hawthorne dirt, and the sophomore LUNE ROUGE is proving she belongs. The ultra-consistent STOP A TRAIN may be the slight favorite in the Illini Princess, but there are several live contenders. MODJADJI is classy, but she's a stretch out sprinter who hasn't won since the summer of '07. HOME'S THE BEST has run some monster races, and both heads of the Block monster, APPLE MARTINI and LAKEAWAY are quite capable. Then there's LABAR, who would be a major threat if she can convert her grass form to dirt.

The Bottom Line: Festival days always offer wonderful wagering opportunities. You can rest assured that the connections of all of these horses have pointed to November 1. The "safe" plays on the card (win, double place wagers) are MIGHTY RULE (Lightning Jet), MAMMA LINA (Showtime Deb), CAPT. BULLET BOB (Sun Power) and PRETTY JENNY (Powerless). Potential price plays (win, double place and triple show) include: EL REAL MADRID and BEST BUDDY (Bucks Boy), DEVIL'S HALO (Sun Power), and APPLE MARTINI, LAKEAWAY and HOME'S THE BEST (Illini Princess).