Jockey E. T. Baird Scores 2,500th Career Win At Hawthorne

On a windy Sunday afternoon at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Ill., jockey E.T. Baird scored his 2,500th career riding victory. Baird won his 2,498th race on Saturday afternoon at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., as he rode Breeze Rider to the win in the My Charmer Stakes for trainer Steve Manley. Baird and Manley teamed up again on Sunday at Hawthorne, taking race five about Rodeo Man for win 2,499. The 2,500th victory was also for Manley as Dancin At Midnight scored in the sixth race from just off the pace.

Known for his excellent ability to get horses away from the gate, Baird began his riding career in 1985. Baird was Hawthorne's leading rider as an apprentice in 1986 as he won 171 races on the year.  A winner of 17 graded stakes on his career, Baird is approaching 19,000 career mounts and this year surpassed $50 million in career earnings from those mounts. He was inducted into the Hawthorne Hall of Fame in 1998.

Hawthorne Race Course, Chicago's Hometown Track, races year-round in 2022. The winter harness season begins Friday, January 7, and races through Sunday, March 20. Spring thoroughbreds kick off Saturday, April 2, and conclude Saturday, June 25. The summer harness season begins on Thursday, June 30, and races through Sunday, September 11. Fall thoroughbreds return Friday, September 23, and race through Saturday, December 31.

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The Friday Show Presented By Monmouth Park: B. Wayne Hughes Remembered; Illinois Racing’s Future

Mark Toothaker, Spendthrift Farm's stallion sales manager, recalled a conversation he had with farm owner  B. Wayne Hughes just a few months ago after noticing that the 87-year-old visionary was still going full speed, working on new ideas and projects, while others his age might spend their time in a rocking chair, traveling or on hobbies.

“Wayne, what in the world?” Toothaker asked him. “Why do you want to keep doing what you're doing?”

“Mark, I've got so much that I want to accomplish but I've got so little time left,” Hughes told him. “So I don't have time to do anything but work.”

Toothaker joins Ray Paulick in this week's Friday Show to pay tribute to Hughes, who passed away on Wednesday while leaving an enormous legacy as a businessman, philanthropist, horseman and innovator.

In a second segment, Paulick speaks with trainer Chris Block, whose family has been breeding and racing horses at Arlington Park for a half century, about the future of Illinois racing should this be the suburban Chicago track's final year.

Olympic Runner, coming off a victory in the Grade 2 King Edward and looking ahead to the G1 Woodbine Mile, is this week's Woodbine Star of the Week.

Watch this week's show, presented by Monmouth Park, below:

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Hawthorne Pens Multi-Year Deal With XB Net

XB Net, the leading provider of premium content for North American horse racing, has agreed to a new distribution deal and a multi-year contract renewal option with Hawthorne Race Course in Chicago, Illinois.

The agreement heralds another milestone partnership in XB Net's progressive portfolio of content rights, data, odds and signals around one of the United States' most historic racetracks, particularly as it embarks on a $400 million redevelopment to add sports betting, casino-style gaming and other entertainment amenities to the new Hawthorne Casino & Race Course.

Accordingly, Hawthorne Race Course forms part of a wider network of over 60 North American tracks whose steady stream of rapid-cycling content is proven to increase digital dwell-time for XB Net's clients and their customers. Moreover, the deal helps to immediately leverage the 50 thoroughbred race-days that comprise Hawthorne's traditional fall/winter meetings and will build momentum for further fan engagement in 2022 when Hawthorne is the only race track in the Chicago area, which is the third-largest media market in the US.

Elsewhere, Hawthorne's CDT time zone naturally clocks on for core UK and European racing audiences, generating increased fan engagement at peak leisure times. Its daily schedule of compelling coverage, which neatly complements Europe's domestic racing action, provides operators with a trustworthy source of rapid-settling betting content from 18:00 CET. This engaging action, which also features regular Harness racing meetings, is proven to retain eyeballs and promote betting activity during competitive digital-entertainment cycles, driving new revenue streams for a wide range of international clients.

XB Net's definitive end-to-end solution, corralling wide-ranging content that covers approximately 75% of all U.S. racing, opens the door to many of the world's best-quality courses and most prestigious horse races. Other notable highlights include the Pegasus World Cup, two legs of this summer's recent Triple Crown (comprising the Preakness and Belmont Stakes) and the season's flagship finale at the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar (5-6 November).

John Walsh, Assistant General Manager at Hawthorne Race Course, said: “This close collaboration with XB Net will expand the international reach and appeal of Illinois thoroughbred racing. The distribution of our content to both mature and emerging markets requires strong partnerships that will showcase the very exciting future of Hawthorne and racing at Chicago's hometown track.”

Simon Fraser, Senior Vice President of International at XB Net, added: “Securing this long-term partnership with Hawthorne emphasizes XB Net's dedication to racing and our broader status as the leading international provider of North American racing. This deal is another strong endorsement of our business model and the collective power of our multi-faceted betting services.

“As ever, betting increases the entertainment value from the consumer perspective. However, with XB Net's fair allocation of capital to where the entertainment value is, we're seeing the whole Illinois ecosystem improve, returning the value to racing stakeholders, the owners and the racetracks themselves. It's great to see during a very challenging economic period.

“Our underlying resolve is to support Hawthorne Race Course's efforts to distribute its horse racing content and wagering on a global scale, now encompassing both fixed-odds (in approved markets) and pari-mutuel betting opportunities. We're confident these milestone developments can further benefit horse racing's consumer economy, both at home and abroad.”

XB Net remains the pacesetter for live North American horse racing content, providing rights, betting data, live broadcast and video streaming on behalf of its growing global portfolio of partners. Harnessing low-latency feeds from more than 2,500 meetings, showcasing over 25,000 races per year, North American racing is helping global operators seamlessly adapt to a demanding schedule for live sports.

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Hawthorne Releases New Concept In Pari-Mutuel Virtual Racing

Hawthorne Race Course in Chicago has created a brand new revenue stream using a world first in regulated virtual racing wagering enabled technology solutions.

The track has partnered with pioneering software developers Virtual Software who used state of the art technology to create the first virtual version of the track ever produced. Marketed as Virtual Live Racing products, the software firm's CGI experts have won BAFTA and Royal Television Society awards, and received Emmy nominations, for their work in the movie and TV industries before working with VLR. Using their world class special effects skills, and the latest CGI technology, they now create fully rendered replicas of leading US race tracks with stunning graphics, realistic race commentary, and virtual races based on results from race data at each track. While legacy virtual racing products are based on RNG (Random Number Generator), Virtual Live Racing's products are a huge leap forward and a first in the USA and internationally because races are based on anonymised and encrypted data from real-life thoroughbred, harness and greyhound races.

John Walsh, Assistant General Manager at Hawthorne, said: “We are excited to offer our Hawthorne data and brand to be included with this innovative new pari-mutuel wagering product line. Racing fans across North America will be able to wager Hawthorne Virtual as it is available to all tote systems in the US via distribution through AmTote International's Spectrum wagering system which enables us to create a brand new risk-free revenue stream.”

VLR's Chairman is Vincent Caldwell, an online betting pioneer and former licensed ADW operator. He said: “Hawthorne is our fourth product to go live in the US. It follows Derby Lane, Tampa Bay Downs and Palm Beach Kennel Club in Florida, and we have two more tracks that are currently undergoing testing before being launched later this month. Our Virtual Live Racing product offers a no cost, risk free, revenue stream opportunity to racetracks all over the world. Racing is going through a tough time and tracks should embrace new products which can offer them income, and promote their tracks to a global audience.”

Joey D Michaels is VLR's Business Development Consultant for the US and is responsible for building relationships with track owners and online Account Deposit Wagering (ADW) betting operators to drive expansion into tracks, casinos, and off-track betting outlet. Click here to watch a VLR demo which shows virtual thoroughbred racing at Hawthorne Race Course.

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