Giant Oak returns to Chicago to run in the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap at Hawthorne racecourse
The 5-year-old Illinois bred Chris Block trained, Giant Oak returns home to Chicago to run in the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup on 8 October, 2011, at Hawthorne race course against nine other rivals as he draws the outside post and gets sent as the 2 to 1 favourite.
The son of Giant’s Causeway, out of Crafty Oak by Crafty Prospector, Giant Oak has won 5 races in his career, and three of them have come in Chicago, and this popular stallion is ready to extend the home tally on 8 October.
However, Giant Oak has only one win to show this season out of 6 starts, with two third place finishes and 3 times he finished 5th this season.
He kicked off the season with a massive win in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on dirt over a distance of 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park on 5 February, 2011, with the winning time of 1 minute and 48.23 seconds.
He defeated Morning Line and Rule on the way, who finished second and third respectively. He hasn’t returned to Chicago all year long, and his second start was at Fair Grounds in New Orleans to participate in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap on 26 March,
2011.
Giant Oak rolled in third behind Mission Impazible and Apart, the top two of the race. This year Giant Oak ran consistently over a distance of 1 1/8 miles, but did not find his winning touch after 5 starts out of 6 on the same stretch.
He was challenged at 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 3 Alysheba at Churchill Downs on 6 May, 2011, where he finished a dismal fifth.
Irrespective of his winning record, in his last two outings, in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap and the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes, Giant Oak posted impressive Beyer Speed Figures of 100 and 101 respectively.
He was overshadowed in the talents of Tizway and Flat Out, and in the Hawthorne he will face his old rival Rule , who is installed as the 5 to 2 favourite for the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap.
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