• By Mike Paradise   There’s an old saying that “Consistency is the Key to Success.” It certainly is in horse racing and Kyle Husted’s Fox Valley Exploit is a great example of the idiom.   more

  • By Mike Paradise   July of 2022 is one month Illinois trainer Curt Grummel will never forget. The 50-year-old horseman sent out not one but two of the recent $50,000 summer champions at Hawthorne.   more

  • By Mike Paradise   It’s a rare weekend at Hawthorne without any ICF stake races on the next couple of cards.   With Springfield opening six days from now much of the state-bred freshman crop more

  • By Mike Paradise   It was a perfect ending for “chalk” players in Saturday night’s $50,000 Fox Valley Flan summer trotting championship for two-year-old state bred fillies when Marvelous Mystery (Kyle Wilfong) crossed the finish more

  • By Mike Paradise   Perfection is what we all strive for in most everything we do. While it’s not realistic for a racehorse to be perfect throughout his or her career, staying flawlessness for as more

  •   By Mike Paradise   “Doc” and Pat Walker, owners of Fox Valley Standardbreds in Sherman, Illinois, will be doing a lot of rooting during Friday’s $50,000 Summer Incredible Finale stake championship.   The question more

  • By Mike Paradise   Two more summer champions were crowned last night at Hawthorne. In one case the winner had to work hard to get the job done, in the other the victorious filly hardly more

  • By Mike Paradise   It’s another jammed packed ICF stakes program on tap tonight with two $50,000 three-year-old championships and five elimination divisions to determine the starting field for next week’s two-year-old finals.   It’s more

  • By Mike Paradise   Last week Erwin F. Dygert Memorial prep did little to clear up the ICF three-year-old trotting colt and gelding division. Instead, the outlook for the state-bred group of trotters got even more

  • By Mike Paradise   Driver Kyle Wilfong had himself quite at Saturday night. The 31-year-old Illinois native steered both winning horses in a pair of $50,000 ICF Summer Championships.   It started with Annas Lucky more

  • By Mike Paradise   It seems that Annas Lucky Star has been the Queen of Illinois harness racing forever. Actually, the star of the Nelson Willis season has reigned for six racing seasons going into more

  • By Mike Paradise   There are two certainties for this evening—the sun will set some time tonight, and He’zzz A Wise Sky will be on the front-end in the $50,000 Robert S. Molaro Memorial Summer more

  • By Mike Paradise   It was young ladies’ night out and they got the attention at Hawthorne Saturday evening when the Illinois Department of Agriculture rolled out five Violet stake races for both Standardbred gaits. more

  • By Mike Paradise   Five Department of Agriculture Cardinal stake two-year-old champions were crowned last night at Hawthorne and there weren’t a lot of major surprises.   The first of three Cardinal $16,833 divisions for more

  • By Mike Paradise   ICF veterans and rookies alike will share the limelight at Hawthorne this weekend.   The experience pacers and trotters will be vying in aged state-bred stake preps while the novices take more

  • By Mike Paradise   A pair of Opens are the center of attention for the first Saturday card of the summer meet with likely post time favorites looking to start the new session in the more

  • By Mike Paradise   Six state-bred Illinois conceived and foaled Standardbreds were crowned Illinois Department of Agriculture stake champions last night with the most impressive performance going to Michael Perrin’s Apple Valley in the second more

  • By Mike Paradise Hawthorne brings its summer session Thursday night with a unique loaded program, if you’re a fan of ICF stake races.   Of the nine races on the card, six are three-year-old state-bred more

  • By Mike Paradise   After a hotter than normal June weather wise, we begin July on Friday night with the weekend opening of Hawthorne’s summer meet. With a smaller than usual warm weather session, the more

  • By Mike Paradise   The winter in between and a two-year-old horse and a three-year-old looms large in the horse racing industry.   You’ve read countless times how a horse “matured” over the winter or more

  •   By Mike Paradise   When I was printing out of past performance lines for Friday’s and Saturday’s Springfield races, I thought something went awry with my printer.   It just kept going and going more

  • By Mike Paradise   With a highly successful lunching of its Juneteenth Celebration race last year this season’s go around moves to Springfield and a day early because of racing being Dark on Sunday, June more

  •   By Mike Paradise   The road to Hawthorne’s Night of Champions in mid-September begins Friday at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield for pacers and trotters ages three and up.   It began a more

  • By Mike Paradise   When the 2022 Summer Classic for ICF two-year-old horses were announced for June 15th there was no scarcity of sceptics that a shortage of horses being entered was possible because of more

  • By Mike Paradise   Triple ZZ Stable’s Kizzzmelikeumissme passed her first major sophomore test with a convincing victory in Saturday night $30,000 ICF event for three-year-old pacers.   Nicely handled by the meet’s leading driver more

  • By Mike Paradise   The last Saturday program of Hawthorne’s winter meet is a good one with a pair of $30,000 ICF events, the Open Trot, the Open for filly and mare pacers, and with more

  •   By Mike Paradise   The 2021 ICF freshman champion Fox Valley Ozzy looks to pick-up where he left off last year against strictly other state-bred pacers.   The Gary Rath trained pacer was perfect more

  • By Mike Paradise   It was one cold Saturday night for racing (20 degrees); however, the Gerald Hansen Stable and driver Travis Seekman didn’t mind. They were red-hot when it counted.   To say that more

  • By Mike Paradise   “Times change and we change with them.”   This old phrase pretty much describes why Hawthorne this year has announced it’ll have no series legs that lead up to a Night more

  • By Mike Paradise   The calendar says it’s “Spring” but if you’re a horseman residing in the northern part of Illinois the last thing on your mind is putting away your winter clothing.   It’s more