5 Jul 2020

By Mike Paradise There are those in our industry that believe the best way to a good nightly mutuel handle is to race full fields on a mile track regardless of the class level of more

4 Jul 2020

By Mike Paradise With one ICF stake events after another taking place since racing resume at Hawthorne at two Cicero Claiming Series has gotten very little exposure. Well, that will change tonight. Since both the more

3 Jul 2020

By Mike Paradise All of us at various times in our life met with people who spend too much of their time whining. You’ve heard them: “It’s too hot. It’s too cold. It’s too humid. more

28 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise How competitive have the Illinois bred sophomore trotting categories been thus far? Well, so competitive that both the filly division as the colt and gelding class has produced three different winners in more

27 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise We’ll see our first appearance of ICF two-year-old filly pacers tonight when eight of initial crop of freshmen go postward in the first leg of the Incredible Tillie stake series. A purse more

26 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise We’re only a few days away from the start of July, one of the hottest months of the year, however the parade of ICF stake races have already been sizzling at the more

21 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise One more, or less, entry into an ICF stake race can make a huge difference for an owner, a trainer, and those fans who like to wager on Illinois racing. Don’t think more

20 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise Saturday evening’s Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Cardinal stake will provide the anticipated rematch between the reining top two ICF three-year-old pacing colts and geldings Fox Valley Ren and He’zzz A Wise Sky. more

19 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise There’s a whole assortment of interesting races on the horizon this weekend at Hawthorne and they range from low-end Mini-Series events all the way up to the first major stake races of more

14 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise Trotters take over the Hawthorne limelight Sunday evening. On tap are the first legs of the three-year-old Night of Champions stakes and for the ICF second season colts and geldings the battle more

13 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise The desire to secure a starting berth in an ICF three-year-old pacing stake series finals on Hawthorne’s Night of Champions begins with a strong showing tonight. The first legs of the Robert more

12 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise It took 13 weekends to get the long awaited rematch we were waiting for in Hawthorne’s No 1 Open Pace. Tonight the meet’s current overnight event champion Castle Flight finally takes on more

7 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise There’s an old nautical phrase that probably fits the ICF pacing mare Whiskersonkittens’ nights on a race track: “Steady as She Goes.” The now seven-year-old Kim Roth trainee has had a rock more

6 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise To the surprise of no one the Hawthorne Race Office entry box was jammed packed and then some Wednesday morning with entries for this weekend’s restart of the local harness racing season. more

5 Jun 2020

By Mike Paradise “Chomping at the Bit” not only is a good description of our industry’s horses that have gone two and a half months since they competed, it also pretty much depicts the people more

31 May 2020

By Mike Paradise Like every other Illinois horseman all trainer Jamaica Patton could do was prepare his horses and await the word for the long overdue announcement that Hawthorne can restart its 2020 harness meet. more

29 May 2020

By Mike Paradise After the renowned Taser Gun’s domination at Maywood Park during the turn of this century, another ICF pacer came along to win over the hearts of Chicago circuit’s half-mile patrons and that more

27 May 2020

Live racing at Hawthorne resumes on Saturday, June 6th and Sunday June 7th. Horses that raced at Hawthorne between Friday, March 6 and Sunday, March 15, need not qualify. They can but it’s not mandatory. more

24 May 2020

By Mike Paradise Hawthorne’s 2020 Late Closer Summer Series, scheduled to be held in May, has been pushed back and will begin at an undetermined date at the meet. That’s welcome news for Illinois horsemen more

22 May 2020

By Mike Paradise Harness racing on the 2020 Illinois County Fair Circuit has taken some hits with a quartet of cancellations of their scheduled June racing events The four called off for this year are more

20 May 2020

By Mike Paradise Through the early part of this century the old Dan Patch stake on Super Night at Balmoral Park saw two remarkable horses rule the ICF aged male pacing division—Ideal Towne and King more

17 May 2020

By Mike Paradise With a Night of Champions title already on her list of accomplishments the Steve Searle stable’s Lous Abagail deserves all the attention she’ll get when the ICF three-year-old filly trot division gets more

15 May 2020

By Mike Paradise A horse’s two-year-old season can be and up and down campaign and unfortunately for the ICF filly pacer Double Parked the downward portion of her season came at the absolute wrong time. more

13 May 2020

By Mike Paradise Sometimes we didn’t realize we were living through the good old days of Illinois harness racing until they are well past us. That may be the case for a lot of us more

10 May 2020

By Mike Paradise Last Friday we took a look at some of the ICF two-year-old pacers nominated this year to either or both the Cardinal and Violet events and later the Springfield and Du Quoin more

8 May 2020

By Mike Paradise The first ICF stake for two-year-olds isn’t until the latter part of June so it’s going to be a while before we get a look at the 2020 crop of state-bred freshmen more

6 May 2020

By Mike Paradise The most dominant horse at one racetrack over a period of time in my many years of covering Illinois harness racing has to be Taser Gun at Maywood Park. The son of more

3 May 2020

By Mike Paradise While we await the go-ahead to resume racing at Hawthorne the three-year-old filly Sleazy Gal has already shown she’s well-prepared to take on her ICF division rivals, right from the get-go. The more

1 May 2020

By Mike Paradise If you asked followers of the Chicago Circuit harness racing which horse won Hawthorne’s 2019 Night of Champions two-year-old filly pace final most would know it was Fox Valley Exploit. On the more

29 Apr 2020

By Mike Paradise The 1990’s, the last decade of harness racing at Sportsman’s Park, provided us with a trio of ICF pacing fillies that not only captured Super Night championships and plenty of dough for more