Incredible Tillie Freshman Fillies Tangle for Third Time
By Mike Paradise
It’s leg three of the Incredible Tillie ICF 2-year-old filly pace series and the way things have played out in the first two rounds it’s appears that at least one series win will be needed to make the final and in some cases that won’t be enough.
Thus far eight “Tillie” divisions have been contested and they’ve been won by eight different freshman fillies. Three more stakes series events will be raced tonight and they’ll go as races 7, 8 and 9 on the 13-race card.
The Freddie Patton Jr Stable’s Princess Sage is the current co-leader in the Incredible Tillie standings with 75 points with an opening round win and a close second in leg two. She appears to be in good shape tonight with the pole position to add to her point total.
Starting to her right is Clark Fairley’s Fox Valley Charliz, a second round winner who has 58 points, good for fifth place. Tonight’s race will be just her third career start.
The eighth race second Tillie division tonight brings out both first round victors Fox Valley Dandy (Matt Krueger) and Razzle Dazzle (Kyle Husted) and they’ll leave from posts 5 and 6, in that order. They have earned 62 and 55 points, respectively.
My Kind Of Dance (Casey Leonard) eyes her third in a row tonight. (Four Footed Photo)
My Kind Of Dance has won her last two starts for trainer Alex Adam and has shown she loves Hawthorne’s stretch. In two of her three career races the Adrian Adam home-bred has closed under 27 seconds and that’s motoring for a “green: 2-year-old.
“I like her,” said her driver Casey Leonard. “She has a great last quarter in her and on Hawthorne’s long stretch you can make up a lot of ground with a horse like her.
As the summer goes on I think the track will favor late closers like My Kind of Dance, so she may turn out to one of the best ones in her series.”
Stormy Weather: A major thunderstorm rolled into the Chicago area last night in the middle of the card. It was an hour between the fifth and sixth races. Before the heavy rains came two of the four stakes for ICF 2-year-olds were decided.
Beatrice (Casey Leonard) was an impressive winner last night. (Four Footed Photo)
Her driver Casey Leonard took Beatrice away from the outside eight-slot looking for a hole but when Lou’s Misty Blue went off stride that filly forced Casey’s 2-year-old trotter about seven deep in the first turn.
By the time Beatrice got settled-in she was fifth and almost 10 lengths behind the leader She’s Savvy who got away with a slow 31.2 first quarter. Driver Matt Krueger backed the pacesetter down when there were no challengers and the half was reached in a modest 1:02.3.
Meanwhile the eventual winner was racing first up.
Beatrice was still outside taking air when She’s Savvy passed the three-quarters in 1:32.4 and appeared she was going to make every pole a winning. However when Casey asked Beatrice for another gear the Photo Color filly obliged, overtaking She’s Savvy in deep stretch for a neck victory for Illinois owners Jim Geis (Chicago), Leland Mathias (Bethany) and the Erv Miller Stable of Pennsylvania.
In Thursday’s Kadabra stake divisions for ICF trotting colts and geldings Trixie/’s Jethro ($5.00) posted his third victory in four career starts in front-end fashion for trainer J D Finn and owner-breeder Charles Doehring of Brownsville, IL.
About an hour later racing resume on a sloppy track and the Roshun Trigg Stable’s Lou’s Credit Report (Jamaica Patton) nailed down her second Fox Valley Flan win by 4 and 1/2 lengths in 2:01. The filly is owned by Flacco Family Farms of Alexis, IL her breeders.
The prohibitive 1-5 favorite Matt Q (Casey Leonard) had no trouble winning for the fourth consecutive time in the Kadabra’s second leg for Quaid Racing of Chicago, this time by four-plus lengths in 2:06. Nelson Willis trains the Powerful Emotion freshman.