Cordarius Stewart is confidently off to a strong start at Hawthorne’s Du Quoin meet. (Terry Young Photo)

By Mike Paradise for the I.H.H.A. 

 When you have a horse going to the starting gate bursting with confidence along with a driver overflowing with poise and conviction often good things are going to happen and they usually do.

  That was the case a week ago when last year’s ICF freshman champion Gorgeous Big Guy and driver Cordarius Stewart teamed up to provide for the gifted Erv Miller trainee to notch his seventh consecutive and remain unbeaten against fellow state-bred pacers in his career.

 Will the more than capable combination of Gorgeous Big Guy and the Mississippi native rising star from Mississippi extend their laurels? We won’t have to wait long to find out. The second of 14 races on today’s Hawthorne at Du Quoin card will deliver the answer when a field of seven Illinois bred colts and geldings go the starting gate.

 Gorgeous Big Guy, who had the three-slot a week ago, did one better this time around with the two. His dangerous stable-mate Fox Valley Durham (Wyatt Avenatti) moves inside of him today with the rail

 Meanwhile, the talented Guitar Man, from the Rob Rittof, freshman fresh off a game victory last week in the $10,266 Downstate Classic at the Decatur Fair, and the winner of 6 of 11 starts as a juvenile, joins today’s fray. A 1:51.1 pacer as a two-year-old, the draw wasn’t kind to the Somestarsomewhere prodigy. He landed outside seven post.

 Interestingly, in an earlier decade of racing, Gorgeous Big Guy and Guitar Man, would have been an entry if there was wagering, which there isn’t today. Both horses are owned by Doug Overhiser (New Smyma Beach, Florida) and Mark Winship (Canton, Illinois).

 If you were fortunate to hear the call of Curt Becker when Gorgeous Big Guy won another, you didn’t need to view how the race unfolded. Our talented Illinois announcer called it perfectly.

 The winner was inside, some half dozen lengths behind at the half that went in a modest 57.3 with Fox Valley Durham leading the way when Curt said: “Cordarius is just sitting chilly with Gorgeous Big Guy. He hasn’t moved a muscle.”

 Meanwhile Gorgeous Big Guy was moving plenty of his muscles, gobbling up ground and in the stretch zipped past while hand driven to the wire. It was the same winning strategy that Stewart used earlier on that card with the Illinois-bred trotter Jewels For Champ, another Miller trainee.

 Cordarius Stewart was unfazed by s slow 1:01.4 half by the pacesetter. Instead, he came first over with the $32,000 yearling purchased mad powered past, victorious by more than three lengths with a 28.3 last panel.

 Today Jewels For Champ, already a winner in 1:55.4 two starts ago in just the Lou’s Legacy gelding’s fourth career outings, guns for his third in a row in race four but he have to do it leaving from the outside six post.

 I think he’s good for another and list him at 6-5 in my projected non-wagering line: https://www.harnessillinois.com/harness-line-and-comments

 Last year’s Fox Valley Flan victor Stand By Your Man (Mike Brink) and 2023 ICF two-year-old filly trot champ Whiskey Lou (Casey Leonard) drew into different divisions of today’s state-bred trotting separations.

 Stand By Your Man landed in the first (race seven) split. It’s her first outing since her Super Night championship in late October. Whiskey Lou dropped into the tenth race second division for trainer Curt Grummel. She’ll take on the one-two finishers Ally Baba (Wyatt Avenatti) and Illini Diva (Cordarius Stewart) in last week’s Downstate Classic at Decatur.

 First post at Du Quoin is 1 pm.