Today’s Hawthorne card featured the inaugural runnings of the the Stickney Handicap and the Cicero Handicap, a pair of Illinois-preferred turf stakes.  A little rain overnight and through the morning put the turf in a less speed-slanted condition than it had been through the week.  Each of the races drew a competitive field of nine, and one of the races was such a close finish that not even a photo could sort out who crossed the wire first.

Head on over to Picks and Ponderings, catch up on today’s stakes racing action, and see what the connections had to say!