Hawthorne business level

Hawthorne Race Course wrapped up a 67-day fall-winter meet Sunday with business basically unchanged from last year.

Even with a surprisingly high number of starters per race, 9.2, betting was flat compared with 2003, with minute decreases in total and ontrack handle.

Total average daily handle on Hawthorne races in 2004 was $2,812,723, down 0.5 percent from $2,828,140 in the 2003 meeting. That decline came from ontrack business - down about $5,000 a day from 2003 to $199,432 - and in-state betting, while out-of-state handle on Hawthorne races rose by about $9,000 daily to $2,200,474 this season.

Chris Emigh won this third Hawthorne jockey title with 69 winners. Frank Kirby won the training title 26 to 25 over the late-closing Mike Reavis.

Frank Calabrese, as usual, was Hawthorne's leading owner, with 16 victories.