Ross Leonard is all smiles with the way his 10-year-old Double A Goldrush, a starter in Monday’s Open Trot, has performed at Hawthorne. (Hoosier Park Photo) 

By Mike Paradise for the I.H.H.A.

 Hawthorne’s winter harness racing meeting concludes Monday night but not before it’s reinging champion in the Open Trot is decided.

 The $11,100 feature, at least on paper, looks to be between last week’s winner Double A Goldrush (Casey Leonard) and Bluebird Deacon (Atlee Bender), who prevailed in the previous two local Open Trots.

 The five-horse field with posts assigned in groups by the Hawthorne Race Office, (1) (2) (3) (4-5), also lured Loulita (Mike Oosting), Dash Of Luck (Brandon Bates) and two-time Hawthorne Open champion Perlucky (Kyle Wilfong), in that order, each with the credentials to come out on top.

 Whichever trotter prevails in the second race headliner does prevail will be the titleholder for a long time since Hawthorne, and pari-mutuel racing in Illinois, doesn’t start up again until September of this year.

  Harness racing at Springfield is expected to be conducted starting sometime in June, however the specifics have not been announced yet by the Illinois Department of Agriculture and sadly for the second consecutive year it will be non-wagering.

  As far as tonight’s Open Trot is concerned, can the veteran Double A Goldrush get to the front again and not be collared or will Bluebird Deacon, now trained by Atlee Bender, who didn’t fire a week ago, power past in time like he did in January with the help of a smaller field.

 Double A Goldrush has only made six career starts at Hawthorne in his eight seasons of racing and boasts a sparkling record of 4 wins and 2 seconds and those recent runner-up finishes were a combined one length losing margin back in January.

 I asked Ross Leonard, his long-time trainer, why the Elegant Man gelding has been so successful at Hawthorne?

 “I really don’t know,” replied Ross. “I’ve thought about it a lot, but I don’t have a really good answer. I guess he just likes the track.

 “Right now, he’s as good as he has been for a long time. That was a strong performance he had last week. Maybe the recent barn change has something to with him now racing so well.”

 Ross was referring to him turning the training over to his father Terry and his older brother Casey who has also taken over the driving chores. “We talked it over and we agreed it might be a good idea to have “fresh eyes” on the horse.”

 The trotter was acquired by his current owners Michael and Laura Lee of Bridgeview, Illinois, and Harvard Illinois’ Terry Leonard for $14,000 at the 2017 Hoosier yearling sale and has been a steady money-maker since coming for the Ross Leonard stable. The consistent trotter has made almost $465,500 and will be adding to that total in 2024.

 “I’m taking him to Miami Valley meeting. He’ll race there and then I’ll get him ready when Hoosier Park opens,” said Ross, who will race two of his stable’s horses in Ohio on Tuesday.

 A Rockin Effort: The 4-5 favorite Play Me Rock put on powerhouse performance in his last race of the Hawthorne winter meeting easily winning Sundays featured $8,000 conditioned pace with 1:50.4 mile despite the temperature hovering in the mid-30’s.

  Saddled with the 9-hole in a 10-horse field, driver Mike Oosting sent the 6-year-old Rockin Image gelding out from the starting gate, and so did others. Play Me Rock was parked out through a 27.4 first quarter by the 30-1 pacesetting longshot Yankee Roller.

  It wasn’t until another eighth of a mile later that Play Me Rock cleared to the front and Oosting decided not to slow things up. Instead, Mike kept the gas pedal down and the winner uncorked a quick 26.3 second panel, opening a sizable lead.

 A couple of 28.1 last half quarters was more than enough to see Play Me Rock ($3.80) prevail by four lengths for owner and trainer Perry Smith of Crete, Illinois.

  Playtorock (Juan Franco) was second best, and it marked the eleventh consecutive time the David Brooks trained gelding finished first or second in a race at the meeting. Fox Valley Cayman (Kyle Wilfong) was third.