Hinsley hopes his filly takes to the track

CHICAGO - The mercury almost hit 60 degrees early this week in Chicago. It was forecast to dip into the teens Tuesday night. Balm and rain one day, snow and ice the next - it would be folly to expect a horse racing surface to remain uniform.

Some call the variations in track surface a bias. Others resist the term, but however the situation is described, handicappers would be foolish not to account for prevailing conditions.

"I've got some horses that really like the track over at Arlington, and other ones that really like it at Hawthorne," said trainer David Hinsley. "This time of the year, the surface changes. It can be fast but still cuppy when it gets freeze-dried, or you can get a racetrack with more moisture that will be completely different, too. You just have to get lucky. It's just winter racing. Hopefully you get the right track for the right horse."

That has happened a lot for Hinsley this meet. Through Sunday, he had 10 winners from 51 starters, much stronger than his recent Hawthorne meets. On Thursday, Hinsley saddles Dottie Booth in the featured seventh race, a second-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles.

Of course, just saddling a horse in preparation for a race is not the entire story. Dottie Booth was saddled and ready to go in the fourth race here Nov. 16, but before she could run, the remainder of the Hawthorne card was scrapped because of deteriorating conditions.

"They canceled while she was walking around the paddock," Hinsley said.

Hinsley turned over much of his stock this summer at Arlington. Older horses and cheaper horses went out the revolving door; new claims like Dottie Booth came in. In her first start for Hinsley and owner Nemesis Racing, Dottie Booth won a Hawthorne entry-level allowance by six lengths.

"We're just trying to maintain and do the same thing as last time," said Hinsley, who will gradually migrate to winter quarters at Tampa Bay Downs the rest of the year. "We don't know if she'll like the racetrack this time. I don't know if she'll like the freeze-dried stuff."

, drew the outside posts. Jennie R., who faded badly in a 1 1/2-mile Keeneland turf race last out, is headed for the lead, and Josefina's Pride, a sharp entry-level allowance winner last out, will hunt an inside position leaving the gate and try to rally from behind.