Scoring Chick a solid favorite

Scoring Chick is seemingly everywhere in the past performances for Hawthorne Race Course this weekend, entered in the Meadowlake Stakes against males Saturday and a first-level optional $50,000 claiming race that goes as race 7 on the Sunday card.

She will run in Sunday's race. Trainer Liane Davis said she entered Scoring Chick in the Meadowlake strictly as an alternative in case the Sunday race did not attract enough entries to fill.

She got her wish, though, when seven 2-year-old fillies entered the six-furlong optional claimer.

Scoring Chick, a daughter of Even the Score, has been installed as the track's 7-5 morning-line favorite.

The reason is clear: Scoring Chick is fast. She won her debut on Polytrack at Arlington on Aug. 14, leading from gate to wire and earning an 89 Beyer Speed Figure. She subsequently ran third in the Prairie Meadows Debutante on Sept. 13 after setting a hotly contested pace.

Although she let down the backers who made her the 6-5 favorite in the Prairie Meadows Debutante, she didn't disappoint Davis.

"We gave her every opportunity to get beat," she said, referring to Scoring Chick being shipped to a new track, racing on dirt for the first time, stretching out from five to six furlongs, and racing under lights for the first time.

Scoring Chick faces no such obstacles Sunday. Although unraced at Hawthorne, she has trained over the surface for the past month. Chris Emigh rides.

Ravin Maniac, another stakes dropper, heads the opposition, having twice won similar races. She remains eligible for this race by racing for a $50,000 claiming price.

A front-runner, Ravin Maniac seeks to rebound from a distant ninth-place finish in the Presque Isle Debutante on Sept. 27.

Other notable entrants include Bootprints, who rallied from a stalking position to win first time out at Arlington on Sept. 20, and Reine des Coeurs, who adds Lasix after finishing 11th in the Arlington-Washington Lassie on Sept. 6.