Brooklyn Bridge A (No. 7) and Anotherstatement A (No. 2), the one-two finishers in the January 11th Hawthorne Open, return for Sunday’s headliner. (Four Footed Fotos).

By Mike Paradise for the IHHA

  Hawthorne Open Pace returns Sunday night but with an unusual look. It’s a six-horse field and only one horse in it was not bred in Australia and competed on the other side of the globe before coming to the United States.

 The lone non-Aussie in Sunday’s sixth race feature is the one-horse Bet Mine, who will be driven by Wyatt Avenatti. The 7-year-old Betting Line gelding, a one-time $40,000 yearling purchase, was assigned the pole position by the track’s race office.

 Looking to end the three-race winning streak oof Brooklyn Bridge A (Kyle Wilfong), who was allocated the outside six-slot, are the Australia native’s Montana Chief A (Casey Leonard), Sanday A (Marcus Miller), Always We Go A (Marcus Miller) and Anotherstatement A (Brandon Bates).

 Brooklyn Bridge A has yet to lose a race since coming to America and joining the stable of trainer Ronnie Roberts. After an easy victory in a conditioned event on December 21, the 7-year-old Sweet Lou gelding had no trouble polishing off local Open fields a week later (1:51.1) and again on January 11 (the night’s fastest in 1:52 flat) as the public’s choice in each event.

 Handicapped with the six-slot shouldn’t be much of a deterrent for Brooklyn Bride A. He has shown he can come off the pace and if he does drop back at the start, he only would have five horses to pass up.

 This will be Brooklyn Bridge’s 30th career start, and he has won more than 50 per cent of them with 15 triumphs. He’s owned by Castaldo Racing Stable of Addison, Illinois, the same proprietors of Sanday A and Away We Go A.

 Sanday A is the newest Australia acquisition for the Castaldo Racing Stable. The nine-year-old gelding joined the barn of Ronnie Roberts this past August. After finishing far back in his mid-December U.S. debut, Sanday A chalked up two comfortable wins last month in conditioned races, the last in 1:53 flat.

 Away We Go A overtook He’zzz A Wise Sky in a mid-December Hawthorne Open and was promptly handicapped with the eight-hole in his next two out-of-the-money starts, Leaving from the four post tonight could see a much better outcome for the 7-year-old gelding.

 The other two Aussies, Montana Chief A and Anotherstatement A, are trained by Hector Herrera for his owners Garcia Power Inc of Crete, Illinois.

 With the Illinois bred mare Fox Valley Leah written-out by the race office for Sunday’s second feature, the $6,200 Open II for fillies are mares for the audacity of winning too many Opens (four) in a row, the sixth race admittedly went from a 3-5 or lower favorite to very much a wide-open affair with no clear-cut choice.

 The Mike Brink stable’s Bombay Parkway (Kyle Wilfong) might be the post time favorite moving to an inside (three) post after twice the bridesmaid at the meet to Fox Valley Leah. However, the 6-year-old ICF was a non-factor in the latest local distaff Open.

 The Hawthorne morning line went with Déjà vu Babyboo (Marcus Miller), listing her at 3-1 from the outside 6-post. Nevertheless, you can make a case for Sleazy Mama (Brandon Bates) or Genie Ina Bottle (Cordarius Stewart) to win the race, along with the two inside horses Apple Valley (Mike Oosting) and Fillister Photo (Casey Leonard), assigned their posts by the Hawthorne race office, as well.