22 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise The 5-year-old ICF pacer He Gone Jack will be cast in his familiar longshot role tonight, when he goes postward in the second and tougher of the two Open II Paces on more

21 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise With the second legs of Hawthorne’s Night of Champions 3-year-old stake series on tap this weekend, a number of ICF sophomore pacers and trotters will be asked to perform double duty this more

19 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise There’s plenty of quantity and quality on Tuesday evening’s Green County harness racing program on the Carrollton County Fair track. An 18 racing card will be presented and it’s highlighted by the more

17 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise It’s time for the Hawthorne spotlight to be turned to the often unpredictable 2-year-old ICF trotting division. On tap Sunday evening is the $47,400 Cardinal for freshman trotting colts and geldings and more

16 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise The road to becoming an ICF 2-year-old filly champion begins Saturday night with the Violet pace. With an even dozen entries the freshman distaff take was split into a pair of six more

15 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise The earliest date for the Cardinal for ICF 2-year-old pacers since it was inaugurated by the Illinois Department of Agriculture back in 1984, didn’t put a damper into the number of entries more

14 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise It’ll be interesting to see just how many ICF 2-year-olds will participate in this week’s 2-year-old Cardinal and Violet stakes for both pacers and trotters. Trainers were never asked to have their more

10 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise The talented ICF trotter Picky Picky Valor went through some tough times as a 2-year-old and for a long while he wasn’t able to get the job done in the major 3-year-old more

9 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise It’s time of the year where we get our first look 2-year-olds at the Hawthorne meet. Saturday’s third race is strictly for freshman fillies and the vast majority of the seven starters more

8 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise Open Pace Handicaps are commonplace at the Hawthorne meeting and when the field is big enough, it’s not unusual to see the Race Office assign the outside 10-poste to a horse. On more

7 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise The expression “There’s “No Place Like Home” just doesn’t apply to people. Those of us who are dog or cat owners know the term also applies to our pets. And the same more

3 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise Last season’s ICF freshmen trotting division for colts and geldings saw a trio of youngsters knock each other off when the major state-bred stakes came around and we can expect more of more

2 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise The first of a pair of $26,700 Violet stakes on Saturday’s program brings out Allbeastnobeauty and Rollin Coal, winners of their respective Plum Peachy stakes series a week ago. It will be more

1 Jun 2018

By Mike Paradise Is this the night the streaking standout Fox Valley Gemini suffers the first loss of his career or will the defending Illinois Harness Horse of the Year roll on to his 13th more

31 May 2018

By Mike Paradise Friday’s $27,500 Cardinal stake divisions for ICF male pacers are loaded with the likes of, 2017 Illinois Harness Horse of the Year Fox Valley Gemini, a romping winner in his opening Carey more

27 May 2018

By Mike Paradise The inaugural 2018 legs of Hawthorne’s Night of Champions stake series moves over to the 3-year-old trotting divisions Sunday night with a pair of Beulah Dygert Memorial events for fillies early on more

26 May 2018

By Mike Paradise The road to Hawthorne’s Night of Champions begins Saturday evening for ICF pacing fillies with the first legs of the Plum Peachy stake series. A total of four series legs will be more

25 May 2018

By Mike Paradise You’ve read countless times on just how important the draw for post position can be in a major race. On the other hand it’s rare that you’ve seen much about another significant more

24 May 2018

By Mike Paradise With the bevy of Late Closer series championships getting most of the attention last week and the opening legs of the Night of Champion stake series certain to be in the limelight more

20 May 2018

By Mike Paradise Sunday’s Hawthorne headliners, a pair of Late Closer Series Finals and an Open III trot, each has one significant detail in common: All three of those morning line favorites will be driven more

19 May 2018

By Mike Paradise One of the great things about horse racing is its unpredictably. You just never know what’s going to happen in a race and a perfect example was last week’s second leg of more

18 May 2018

By Mike Paradise When the Walter Paisley Late Closer Series got under way two weeks ago, Princess Oshie came into it as an “under the radar” mare. Unraced as a freshman and with only modest more

17 May 2018

By Mike Paradise Eight Late Closer champions will be crowned at Hawthorne this weekend and after the first two series legs, it’s clear that the Brett Wilfong Stable has a major threat in a pair more

13 May 2018

By Mike Paradise If one Open III Trot is a worthy feature for a Sunday card then two must be twice as good for Hawthorne horse players. That’s the case for tonight with a pair more

12 May 2018

By Mike Paradise Jim Ballinger’s Fox Valley Gemini, the unbeaten ICF freshman who went on to be named the 2017 Illinois Harness Horse of the Year, makes his 3-year-old debut Saturday night at Hawthorne. While more

11 May 2018

By Mike Paradise When the 3-year-old ICF filly Ryan’s Mistess last week swept past the field, in the last quarter of the mile to capture the opening leg of the Dave Magee Late Closer Series more

10 May 2018

By Mike Paradise If you’re wondering if last Saturday’s Hawthorne’s earlier-than-normal 6:30 pm first post on Kentucky Derby Day was a success . . . it wasn’t. It was a flop. The idea that by more

6 May 2018

By Mike Paradise The opening legs of the last two Late Closer series and an Open III Pace with a strong contingent of ICF horses are the headliners on the initial Sunday card of Hawthorne’s more

5 May 2018

By Mike Paradise The first Saturday card of Hawthorne’s summer meeting has all the right ingredients to make it an entertaining and competitive 12-race card. The winning recipe for the evening begins with an earlier-than-normal more

4 May 2018

By Mike Paradise The wait is over. Harness racing returns to Hawthorne tonight after a 12 week hiatus, with a 10-race card highlighted by the first legs of four Late Closer series races. We won’t more