By Mike Paradise
When Casey Leonard drives his initial horse at the upcoming Hawthorne meeting it will be the 39-year-old Illinois native’s first time in the bike in a pari-mutuel race this year. In fact, Casey hasn’t driven since closing night last September 25th, seven long months ago.  And while he is “looking forward to the start of Hawthorne,” driving horses is now a “hobby” for the Chicago circuit’s leading pilot after seven-plus years of making a living, and often a very good one, as an Illinois harness racing horseman.

“With the steady decline of racing dates in Illinois and the uncertainly of harness racing in our state I decided to look for another job to support my family,” said Casey. I‘ve been fortunate to find one, at a very good company, and I’ll still be able to drive horses at Hawthorne only this time as a hobby, not as my livelihood.  I drove at Hawthorne on its last Sunday of racing. I interviewed for the job on Tuesday and I started at the DeLong Company on Thursday, I think the date was October 5th. 

(Still headquartered in Clinton, Wisconsin, the more than 100-year-old DeLong Company currently operates 24 facilities and offices in Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York and Ohio. The DeLong Co. is the No.1 U.S. exporter of containerized agricultural distributions.  It is comprised of five divisions of agricultural sales and service: agronomy, grain, seed, wholesale distribution and transportation. The DeLong Co., Inc. remains a family owned and managed organization. Its current board of directors is 4th generation and its shareholders are 4th, 5th and 6th generation direct descendants of its founder William E. DeLong).

Casey Leonard was Hawthorne’s leading driver in 2016 and is shown here accepting the award from Hawthorne’s Assistant General Manager John Walsh.. (Four Footed Photo)

Casey stated, “It didn’t look like anything was going to happen (legislation-wise) in Illinois and if it did, it still would be a couple of years before it impacted the horse racing industry.  It’s a real good opportunity for me working for a well-respected company. They tell me it’ll take a couple of years before I get my feet under me and really understand the business and I would agree with that. There’s a lot to learn. I’m trying to become a Grain Merchandiser at the company.

As far as horses, the only thing I’ve been doing with them is training some of my own on Saturdays. My dad (Terry) is still running the farm (in Harvard, IL). One of our employees has moved to Indiana to help (brother) Ross with horses at Hoosier.”

The DeLong Company  located across the Wisconsin border,  is about 20 miles from Casey’s home in Harvard, Illinois  “It’s sure a lot better drive for me than the commute I used to have going to Balmoral, said Casey laughing. That was an 110 mile journey and about 2 and 1/ 2 hours when the traffic was light.  Once Hawthorne starts there’s going to be a lot on my plate to do both, for the next five months. Driving horses is now a hobby and most people can’t rely on a hobby to make a living. That’s why I decided it was time to do something else.”

Casey didn’t become a full-time Chicago circuit driver until September of 2009 when he was 32-years-old. Nevertheless, he quickly rose to become one of  Illinois’ best. He had only 32 winning drives from 1996 through 2009 but an impressive total of 2,001 since. His best year was in 2013, when he posted career highs of 407 dash winners, while horses he drove  won over $2.8 million.  On the other hand, Casey has gone from 2,517 drives in 2013 to only 1,119 in 2016, despite having a career best UDRS of .365 last year. His money won total tumbled by $1.4 million since 2013 with the huge drop in Illinois racing dates and without a 2017 Hawthorne winter meet, it’ll take another nosedive this year.

Casey said, “I talked to someone from Hawthorne the other day who was bragging about how good their purse structure is for this year. I’m from the Dave McCaffrey school of thought: Damn it, they should be good when you’re racing only five months instead of nine.”  Casey certainly has a valid point, doesn’t he?

Qualifying Update: Qualifier races slated for today (Friday) at Springfield were canceled because of wet conditions and have been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 3rd.
Hawthorne will host pre-meeting qualifiers on Friday, May 5th, and again on Monday, May 8th beginning at 10:00 am both days. Entries for the May 5th qualifiers will be taken on Thursday, May 4th. Entries for the Monday, May 8th qualifiers are taken on Sunday, May 7th.

During the racing season, qualifiers will take place prior to the regular racing program on Thursday evenings. Qualifier horses will paddock in Barn 1 on the Hawthorne backstretch.

By Mike Paradise
The list of nominated horses for Hawthorne’s upcoming Late Closer Series has been tabulated by its’ race office. A number of new faces will be on hand to engage a multitude of ICF pacers and trotters, making for some upcoming intriguing events.

Late Closer No. 1, the Walter Paisley for filly and mare pacers that were non-winners of $30,000 (ICF $45,000) lifetime through March 31, 2017, lured 16 horses including such 4-year-old invaders as Alabamashakey, Delightfully Wild and Rockinaroundheaven.

Alabamashakey won her first six starts at Pompano Park for Illinois trainer Rob Rittof and has almost $20,000 on her season card. Delightfully Wild has posted five wins in her last ten starts at Cal Expo for conditioner Libero Pachero; while Rockinaroundheaven, trained by Jim Lackey, has proved best in two of her last four in California.

Other Paisley eligible distaffers are: Boogie On Down, Burry Me Inthesand, Dakota Sleek, Fox Valley Dandy, Hope Hotspur, Hot Cakes, Jeana Rose, Lacarmeliliana, Laurel’s Lea, Leehan Pearl, Little Miss Torie, Norma Rea and Phyllis Jean.

The Bob Larry (Series No. 3) for colt and gelding pacers with the same eligible conditions as the Walter Paisley, had 13 nominations headed up by the Nelson Willis trainee Hot Rod Dylan, who captured his first eight starts of the year at Miami Valley Raceway in Ohio before a fourth place finish last week at Hoosier Park to a 1:50 flat win.  Hot Rod Dylan, a 4-year-old gelding, took a $17,500 Late Closer Final earlier this month on the Lebanon, Ohio racetrack.

Sporty Redhot, a five-time winner as a freshman, has his sights set on the upcoming Bob Larry Late Closer Series at Hawthorne. (Four Footed Photo)

Other Bob Larry eligible pacers are: All In No Out, Bowedfortyova, Fourboltmane, Fox Valley Nemitz, He Gone Jack, Lets Go Dune, Red Red Redneck, Slzburgerslzeburger, Sporty Redhot, Tiny Jim, Uptown Sleaze and Wildcat Hilton.

The Bea Farber Trot Series (No. 2) looks to be very competitive with its 10 nominations that include ICF Violet champ Daisy Lou Duke, from the Steve Searle stable, the Roshun Trigg trained 3-year-olds stake winners Lougazi and Lou’s Credit Report, along with Larry Price’s BC’s Da Winner, victorious in his last six outings in 2016 including the last four at Hawthorne.  El Lobo Hall, Energy Bar, Hatfield And McCoy, I Could Care Less. Lou’s Game And Match and Southern Appeal are the other Bear Farber hopefuls.

The Dave Magee (No. 4) drew the most Late Closer nominations with 22 sophomores on its list. It’s for Illinois bred 3-year-old fillies without $10,000 in earnings as of March 31st.

The Magee candidates are BC’s Angel’s Filly, Beamer N Bud, C Far, Chitty Bang Bang, Day Of Decision, Do You Dare, Fancy Creek Jolene, Fox Valley Maya, Fox Valley Miley, Frontier Shirley, Giftfromtheheart, Island Campaign, Jewel’s Hall, Lady’s Party, Little Adaline, Miss Tennessee, My Uptown Girl, Perfectly Dune, Revin The Engine, Rose’s First, Rousey Ronda and Smiles Ahead.

The Mike Paradise (No. 6), the male counterpart of the Dave Magee Series, has 17 eligible pacing colts or geldings: Causway, Commondiscourtesy, Et Tu Brute, Fox Valley Scampi, Frontier Fred, Ima Scrappy Scraper, Ima Skywalker, In Your Eye, Jawsome, JD Jay Dee,  Kid Rocky, Sammy Sagebrush, Silver Romeo, Star Duster, Sullivan, Trail Blazer and Zone Blitz.

One of the interesting names among the 19 trotters nominated for the Daryl Busse (No. 4) is the 3-year-old Swan Victoria from the Roger Welch Stable. Unraced at two, she was a hefty $115,000 yearling purchase at the 2015 Hoosier Sale. Her full brother is the Erv Miller Stable’s 4-year-old Airman Batten, (1:54.1) winner of 14 of 28 career starts with over $340,000 on his card.

The other Busse aspirants are: Bands Houdini, Dandy’s ESP, Dr. Splender, Fort Defiant, Free Range Chikin, Hannah’s Lil Prayer, I Love Lindy, Lofty, Lou’s Misty Blue, Misty Lou, Muscle Image, My Favorite Kir, Photo Phred, Picky Picky Valor, Red Star Ranger, Sawyer G, Scarlet Ribbons and Totally Pizzazzed.

An even dozen open company 3-year-old male pacers were submitted for the Phil Georgeff (No. 8): Always A Fiji, Getting Rowdy, Heartland Revenue, Kash In Khan, Look At Luke Smile, Pop’s Pool Room, Skyway Fireball, Star Of The Party, Talents Marvel, Tulsi and Western Sangria. The Georgeff is limited to non-winners of $10,000 lifetime (March 31st).

The same conditions apply to the Peter Galassi (No. 7). With only seven 3-year-old filly pacers nominated (Dali Delight, Dry Creek Lis, Getn My Sundaze On, It’s On To Dream, Lakeside Ms Queen, Patches Girl and Rear View) the series could be in danger of being a no-go.

Hawthorne opens its summer harness meeting on Thursday night May 11th. The four-day-a-week format runs through Sunday, September 24th. First post nightly will be at 7:10 pm.