Goes from Grade II to Grade III. Not a huge loss for Hawthorne, since the Illinois Derby will still be at least a marginal stop along the Derby trail. However, the failure of Recapturetheglory as a favorite multiple times last year had to have hurt the status of the race, and Hawthorne doesn't have all that many graded stakes to begin with. A couple more duds and it could lose its graded status entirely; it probably would have already if not for War Emblem earlier in the decade.

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Fire Phil Emery