Thursday night at Hawthorne featured leg three action for the Illinois-bred three-year-old trotters. Male trotters were featured in the Erwin F. Dygert Memorial Stakes while the females took to the track in the Beulah Dygert Memorial Stakes.
Race six on the card was the third leg of the Erwin F. Dygert Memorial Trot, and the favourite was Hail Caesar. Moving to the early lead was Primed N Powerful through the opening quarter in :29.1. Into the turn, Fear took over for Todd Warren through the half in :57.4. On the turn, Primed N Powerful came back to challenge, assuming command through three quarters in 1:28.1. In the lane, Hail Caesar rolled up three wide and took over for Casey Leonard, drawing clear by four lengths on the wire. Longshot Wrightwood closed late to finish second while Primed N Powerful held third. The final time for the mile was 1:58.1 over a track listed as fast.
Owned by H W Wright and trained by Mike Brink, Hail Caesar returned $3.60 to win.
Race seven Thursday was the Beulah Dygert Memorial Stakes with a field of eleven set to face the starter. The favourite was Vengeful for driver Todd Warren.
Leaving for the lead were multiple trotters as Vengeful had to work to make the lead through the opening quarter of :29.3. On the backstretch, longshot Shez A Devil Woman pushed Vengeful along through the half in :58.3. In the turn, Shez A Devil Woman put a head in front briefly but Vengeful fought back through three quarters in 1:28.2. In the stretch, Vengeful opened up a three-length lead and remained clear at the wire, winning by five lengths. Surviver Di rallied to finish second while More Than Likely was third. Final time for the mile was 1:57.4.
Vengeful is owned by Providence West, Inc. and trained by Kenny Collier. She returned $5.00 to win.
Thursday night at Hawthorne saw no winning tickets of five of five in the early pick five, leading to a carryover into the Friday card. The early pick five on Friday will have a carryover of $3,317.
(Hawthorne)