28 Dec 2018

By Mike Paradise It’s been four years since National Hall of Famer Dave Magee retired from driving harness horses and made the out-of-the-ordinary-switch and became an associate judge at Indiana’s Hoosier Park. Does someone with more

21 Dec 2018

By Mike Paradise Covering Illinois harness racing through five decades I’ve been privileged to watch the cream of the crop of ICF pacers and trotters grace our state’s racetracks. Every era has produced its own more

14 Dec 2018

By Mike Paradise How knowledgeable are you on the history of Illinois harness racing? We’ve put together 10 questions to test just how proficient you are. It’s a multiple choice test to help you along. more

7 Dec 2018

By Mike Paradise Twenty years have passed since “Dual Simulcasting” was a regular weekend happening when Balmoral Park and Maywood Park raced on the same nights. Dual Simulcasting’s 10-year run started in the late 1980’s more

30 Nov 2018

By Mike Paradise Fifteen years ago Balmoral Park was thriving with nationally acclaimed horses coming to town for its American Nationals, a driver colony among the finest in the country, and nightly 1 million dollar more

22 Nov 2018

By Mike Paradise When the long time Chicago Sun-Times harness racing authority Tom Krish passed away earlier this month in his native country of India, our industry not only lost one of the nation’s very more

16 Nov 2018

By Mike Paradise The most prestigious night of harness racing nation-wide every year is the Breeders Crown. It’s the single racing program where the crème de la crème in each pacing and trotting division tangle more

9 Nov 2018

By Mike Paradise Through the past decades Illinois Harness Racing Hall of Fame horseman Lavern Hostetler has had many memorable nights of racing in his driving career nevertheless there are two that standout above all more

2 Nov 2018

By Mike Paradise The first decade of this century was an era of illustrious filly and mare pacers competing in Illinois, especially on the Chicago circuit, and one of the most renowned was Shirley Le more

26 Oct 2018

By Mike Paradise A bevy of ICF Standardbreds will invade Hoosier Park tonight with the hopes of boosting their purse earnings in open company stake races. A half-dozen 3-year-olds, headed by a trio of Hawthorne’s more

19 Oct 2018

By Mike Paradise There comes a time when you realize you can’t do something as well as you did earlier in life. For Illinois Harness Hall of Fame driver Jerry Graham that realization came 11 more

12 Oct 2018

By Mike Paradise Let’s look back eleven years to 2007. It was a much different harness racing schedule in Illinois and while Hawthorne hosted its Night of Champions their showcase event came a lot earlier more

5 Oct 2018

By Mike Paradise Driver Kyle Husted is back on the east coast with his stable of horses but not before he left town on a high note, bringing home three winners of Hawthorne’s Night of more

29 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise They say figures don’t lie so here are some facts and figures from last weekend’s Night of Champions that may surprise you. ***The total handle on the Night of Champions was $1,163,938 more

28 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise Saturday’s Fall Classic at the Springfield Fairgrounds got a ringing indorsement from Illinois harness horsemen when 75 Illinois conceived and foaled 2 and 3-year-olds were entered, enabling 14 races to be carded more

24 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise It doesn’t seem that long ago that Hawthorne’s summer harness racing meet got under way and the start of summer was still on the on the horizon. Sadly summer officially came to more

23 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise Long-time Illinois horseman Steve Searle has been in the business for 40-plus years and some were lean ones at that however the 59-year-old Grant Park, Illinois resident had his night to bask more

22 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise The most anticipated Illinois harness racing program of the year has arrived. It’s Hawthorne’s Night of Champions with eleven ICF championships on the line and over $1.16 million in purse money up more

21 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise Springfield based trainer Mike Brink will ship in five youngsters for Hawthorne’s Night of Champions Saturday night and three of his ICF horses will very likely get a lot of play at more

20 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise He’s back. In this case the “He” is the talented three-year-old ICF pacer, Fox Valley Gemini, winner of his first 16 career starts before the Yankee Skyscraper was defeated in both of more

16 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise Driver Kyle Husted had himself a Saturday night to remember. The 27-year-old Illinois native was at the lines of the first three winning horses in the final legs of the Night of more

15 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise The draws for fourth and final legs of Friday’s Night Of Champion stakes series have brought about a number of interesting story lines. In certain cases it will enable some ICF horses more

14 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise It’s been said countless times the better the purses, the better the horses. It’s no different now than it was back in last century’s glory days of harness racing in Illinois. Once more

13 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise Hawthorne’s Night of Champions, a week from Saturday, got a boost both on and off the racetrack when management announced that a pair of $25,000 open company Invitational events will be added more

9 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise It’s often said that consistency is a virtue and if that’s the case the 4-year-old ICF trotter Picky Picky Valor has earned the title has the most virtuous trotter at the Hawthorne more

8 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise The Hawthorne spotlight switches over to Illinois conceived and foaled 2-year-old colts and geldings of both gaits Saturday evening with third round action of the Night of Champions stakes series. In some more

7 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise This weekend’s third leg of the Night of Champion series will go a long way to determining which freshmen will be competing on Hawthorne’s September 22 showcase evening of racing in a more

6 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise Hawthorne’s four lives days of racing a week format returns tonight with a card that should look familiar. They’re the nine races not contested last Friday night, when a severe thunderstorm ended more

2 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise As it turns out last Friday’s last nine races weren’t cancelled because of the torrential rains that rolled thru the Chicago area . . . they were just postponed. They’ve been moved more

1 Sep 2018

By Mike Paradise Racing resumes Saturday evening at Hawthorne after a severe thunderstorm rolled into the Chicago area last night, cancelling Friday’s card after only the first two races were completed. While Saturday’s third race more