Mike Paradise

Cardinal Freshman Pace a Spirited Stake

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By Mike Paradise

We’ll get our second look at the ICF babies this weekend and in some cases are first view of other two-year-old pacers and trotters as they compete in the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Violet and Cardinal, the first major stake finals for state-bred freshmen.

First up is tonight’s $42,950 Cardinal pace, event six on Friday’s eleven race program. The owners of eight state-bred freshmen dished out a $400 starting fee for their youngster to go to the starting gate.

It’s one of those take-you-pick affairs no matter what the computer generated first flash odds might indicate.

The Roshun Trigg Stable’s Ryans Loan Shark (Cordauius Stewart) is a major threat in tonight’s $42,300 Cardinal freshman pace after his victory a couple of weeks ago in the first round of the Incredible Finale stake series. (Four Footed Fotos)

The Roshun Trigg Stable’s Ryans Loan Shark (Cordauius Stewart) is a major threat in tonight’s $42,300 Cardinal freshman pace after his victory a couple of weeks ago in the first round of the Incredible Finale stake series. (Four Footed Fotos)

The Terry Leonard Stable’s Partyatmosasplace (Ridge Warren) is listed as the 8-5 favorite after a very ince second place finish when he debuted in the first leg of the Incredible Finale stake series. The home-bred pacer put on a late burst and was gaining on the winner in deep stretch. The Party At Artsplace youngster could very well be the post time favorite..

The Incredible Finale first leg victor Ryans Loan Shark (Cordarius Stewart) should receive good play with his 2:01.3 triumph and a five race record with of never finishing worse than third. He’ll leave from post six for trainer Roshun Trigg and is listed at 8-1 despite his positive record.

The Erv Miller trained two-year-old Well Basically (Kyle Husted) makes his pari-mutuel debut from the outside eight-slot and the Sagebrush gelding had a very quick 26 last quarter in his 1:55.2 qualifier at Hoosier Park. Illinois owners Anthony Lombardi (Morris) and Marty Engel (Northbrook) purchased Well Basically for $31,000 at last year’s Illini Classic Sale.

You can expect Well Basically to get bet down from his 7-1 programmed odds. You can also anticipate Ideal Big Guy (programmed at 9-2, Casey Leonard), Prince Of Style (7-2, Kyle Wilfong), and Frontier Charley (10-1, Todd Warren) to get their share of the public’s wagering money as well.

Tonight’s longshots will be the home-bred Diamond Diesel (25-1, Juan Franco) and the first-time starter Mekkas Big Guy (25-1. Tyler Shehan), a $10,000 yearling purchase for the Jamaica Patton Stable.

Ideal Big Guy, a stable-mate of Partyatmosasplace, broke at the start in the Incredible Finale, fell eight lengths back by the half, and made up four lengths on the winner. Prince Of Style raced well in the initial Illinois bred stake of the year, finishing third, a little more than three lengths off from Ryans Loan Shark.

Frontier Charley was the Incredible Finale betting favorite. The Jim Eaton trainee got a skillful two-hole drive from Kyle Husted however the youngster went off-stride in the late going on a sloppy track. Todd Warren gets the catch drive behind the $24,000 yearling buy tonight.

Violet is Next: Seven juvenile gals will slug it out Saturday evening in the $43,100 Violet pace and on Sunday the first season Illinois bred trotters will tangle in two $23,999 divisions of the Cardinal and a single $46,000 division of the Violet.

The $10,500 Open Pace for fillies and mares will also return to add more strength to the Sunday card that has been handling extremely well since the Hawthorne restart. Over $1.45 million poured through the local mutuel system a week ago on July 5th.