Turf or dirt, Rivelli has the right horse
STICKNEY, Ill. – How has the Hawthorne turf been playing this meet? Hard to say. A cold, wet spring has limited use of the course, and coming into Friday’s program, Hawthorne had run only 12 races on grass. More rain was forecast through Friday night, but Saturday is supposed to be sunny and pleasant, and the two best races on the Saturday card have a decent chance of staying on turf.
The $75,000 Oak Brook (race 8), for Illinois-bred fillies and mares over one mile, is the feature, but race 6, a stakes-class allowance, is the highest-class offering on a solid 10-race Saturday program.
Race 6 has three high-end allowance conditions, a $50,000 claiming option, and is carded for one mile. Trainer Larry Rivelli likely will be winning this race regardless of surface, with Bizzee Channel the leading hope on grass, Buck Moon on dirt.
:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures
Four-year-old Buck Moon campaigned on synthetic surfaces last fall and winter and has found a home this spring racing in dirt routes. At Keeneland in April he was a smart front-end winner of a second-level allowance, beating the talented Chad Brown-trained colt Stage Raider. On May 13 at Churchill Downs, Buck Moon contested a strong pace and held third in a third-level allowance won with a 97 Beyer Speed Figure by Twilight Blue, who beat 2021 Jim Dandy third-place finisher Masqueparade by a head.
If the race stays on turf, Bizzee Channel will win if he comes close to his top form, which produced a win last summer in the Arlington Stakes over Two Emmys, who came back the next month to win the Grade 1 Mr. D. Stakes. Bizzee Channel began his 2022 season with a game victory in a $138,000 Keeneland turf allowance race.
Racing without Lasix and facing Grade 1 company, Bizzee Channel finished a distant seventh in the May 7 Turf Classic at Churchill. Bizzee Channel gets Lasix again Saturday as he seeks his seventh win.
Captivating Moon, who appreciates soft turf, and Summer Assault lend depth to this field.
Michele Boyce, the Chicago trainer displaced to Indiana Grand this summer by Arlington’s closing, sends out Summer Assault in the allowance and has solid contender Cat Attack for the Oak Brook. Cat Attack, bred and owned by Steve and Diane Holland, flopped last fall in the Illini Princess over the Hawthorne turf course but finished first or second on turf in her four previous starts, including a Hawthorne wet-turf blowout. Summer Day and Embarrassing ought to contend if the race stays on turf, while stretchout sprinter Racetothefinish is a wire-to-wire threat on dirt.