Colorful Tour lead player in Demetri's Boy

Fresh off a strong showing in the Illinois Coronet Handicap against older Illinois-breds four weeks ago, Colorful Tour will be a heavy favorite Saturday at Haw-thorne against statebred 3-year-olds in the $40,000-added Demetri's Boy Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.

Colorful Tour has had a relatively light campaign of seven starts this year, but a glance at his company lines shows that his season has hardly been easy.

Rested for the winter following a win in the Jim Edgar Futurity last December, Colorful Tour reappeared last March in an allowance at Sportsman's that attracted a locally based colt returning from Fair Grounds named War Emblem. War Emblem won by 10 lengths, but Colorful Tour's runner-up effort set him up for a victory in the restricted Land of Lincoln Stakes two weeks later.

Colorful Tour was elevated to third in the Grade 3 Hawthorne Derby after the disqualification of the winner, Flying Dash. Colorful Tour returned to the restricted ranks in the one-mile Springfield Stakes at Arlington and scored by 1 1/2 lengths.

After two unsuccessful ventures against open company, Colorful Tour returned to the statebred ranks in last month's Illinois Coronet Handicap. He ran one of the fastest races of his career, earning a 92 Beyer Speed Figure, but fell short of Chinkapin by four lengths.

A homebred from Noel Hickey's Irish Acres Farm, Colorful Tour will be tough to beat with jockey Randall Meier aboard.

The main threat to Colorful Tour may come from Scooter Roach, who was placed first in the Grade 3 Hawthorne Derby. Winless in six starts since the Hawthorne Derby, Scooter Roach finished five lengths behind Colorful Tour in the Illinois Coronet.

Colorful Tour is the better half of the Hickey-trained entry, which also includes Afleet Buck. Winner of the Canterbury Park Derby on turf last spring, Afleet Buck has struggled since, though he ran well in a loss against $18,000 claimers last time.

The Demetri's Boy, named for the prominent Illinois-bred runner from the early 1980's, is the seventh race on the 10-race program.

Miss Mommy, and other new stakes

There are several new overnight stakes in the final Hawthorne condition book.

Two-year-old fillies will contest the six-furlong Miss Mommy on Sunday, while the six-furlong Little Brother Stakes on Dec. 15 is open to all 2-year-olds. The Colonel Power, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for older horses, is scheduled for Dec. 28.

The Chicago Six, named for the recently retired Illinois-bred champion, will be the closing day feature on Jan. 1. The Chicago Six is for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles.

Each stakes carries a purse of $40,000-added.

* The Hawthorne racing office gambled that dry weather would continue and carded a $14,000 claimer on the turf as Wednesday's third race. Those plans were thwarted when several inches of snow blanketed the Chicago area Monday night, meaning that the final grass race of the season was run on Nov. 23.