It’s Double Header Saturday at Du Quoin
By Mike Paradise
Some of the best plans don’t always materialize when Mother Nature steps in and that’s the case Friday evening when a nighttime harness racing opener at Du Quoin had to be postponed due to the weather.
But all is not lost.
Friday’s schedule 11-race card is still a go but it has been moved to Saturday morning with a 10:30 am first post. After about a half-hour after the first program is completed, the regularly scheduled Saturday’s 12 race card will begin.
Saturday’s last race, the $27,500 Dudley Hanover for ICF there-year-old pacing colts and geldings is scheduled to go off around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, so it’ll be a long, long day for horsemen and their help, as well as drivers.
I’ll have plenty of coffee brewing because I plan on being in front of my computer for six and one-half hours or so writing a Sunday wrap-up story.
On Higher Ground (inside, Ridge Warren) and Fox Valley Quest (Casey Leonard), the one-two colt and gelding freshman finishers at Springfield, will tangle again at Du Quoin in Saturday’s Darn Safe stake for first season trotters. (Four Footed Fotos)
You can go to http://harnessillinois.com/mike-paradise-stories-and-selections/harness-line-and-comments/ for my graded harness lines and selections for both of Saturday’s cards.
Friday’s posted story on the IHHA site summarized the now first Saturday card.
As far as the second, Illinois Topline events, County Fair challenger make up the first eight races. Then it’s the $7,000 ICF championship for aged pacing mares and fillies where Fox Valley Charm (Travis Seekman) is favored in an event she won at Du Quoin in both 2016 and 2017.
A trio of $27,250 ICF stake championships follows and they’ll go as the last three events on a 12-race program.
Springfield champion On Higher Ground (pp 10, Ridge Warren), Cardinal victor Fox Valley Quest (pp 9, Casey Leonard) and Desert Sheik (pp 6, Mike Brink), a two-time Kadabra series stake champ, head up Darn Safe for two-year-old male trotters.
Fox Valley Ren (pp 2, Kyle Wilfong), puts his seven-race winning streak on the line in the Governor’s Cup for freshman pacing colts and geldings.
The Dudley Hanover stake pits the division leaders in the Illinois bred sophomore colt and gelding pacer division—Meyer On Fire (pp 2, Kyle Husted), Maximus (pp 4, Kyle Wilfong) and Fox Valley Triton (pp 7, Casey Leonard)—against each other.
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