Gal’s Take Over ICF Stakes Spotlight

By Mike Paradise
“The Gals” take over the Friday night racing card at Hawthorne with the center of attention on the Incredible Tillie stakes for 2-year-old ICF pacers. It’s the fourth and final leg and the Race Office was inundated with entries for this filly series.
With 27 entrants a trio of nine-horse divisions was needed, each with a $15,000 purse. A starting berth in the $100,000 Final on Hawthorne’s Sept. 10 Night of Champions is on the line for many of the freshman fillies competing tonight.

The second race first “Tillie” division is headed up by the streaking My Kind Of Dance (Casey Leonard), winner of her last four including two legs of this series, and Princess Sage (Freddie Patton Jr.), another two-time series winner.
Both of those fillies are in the final with 125 and 112 points, respectively. However two fillies in tonight’s first division, Filly Forty (35) and Dandy’s Dududidudu (32) are on the outside looking in. They currently rank 12th and 13th in point earnings and need to come up big tonight to move on.
The third race second division 7-5 program favorite Razzleme Dazzleme (Kyle Husted) already has two Incredible Tillie stake triumphs and as locked-up a berth in the final. Just Doit Queeny and Fox Valley Dandy are in good shape with 67 points each and A Real Doozie is in even better shape with 76.
On “the bubble” in tonight’s second division is Sheadealer who goes into the race with 41 points, right now good for the tenth and final championship spot.
Clark Fairley’s Fox Valley Charliz (4-1. Pat Curtin), one of the favorites in tonight’s third division of the Tillie is sitting pretty with 83 points, the current fourth best total in the stake series. She has the pole position tonight with Jumpy Right Up (Mike Oosting) to her right, a likely finalist with 76 points to her credit.
Springfield champion Artemesia (Todd Warren), the 2-1 morning line favorite and Du Quoin’s Director Award winner Dee Tumbleweed (9-2, Cornelius Cavett) need a win in the fifth race third division for any chance to gain “Tillie” final and even that’s not a certainty depending on what some other fillies with much higher current point totals do tonight
Friday’s three-year-old Plum Peachy fourth leg has a bulky 11-horse field of fillies with Violet champion Char N Marg (Casey Leonard), Springfield victor Bucklegirl Bobette (Kyle Wilfong) and the August 1 Open Pace winner Whiskersonkittens (Todd Warren) all vying for the role as post-time favorite.
That trio, along with :Lexington Lady, LK’s Nancy Lee, Ashlee’s Nancy Lee, Dandy’s Diva and Likeafireballshot, all appear to be among the Plum Peachy finalists.
Two $10,000 elimination divisions of the Maurello stake for older ICF pacing mares are also on the Friday card with the first five finishers in each of the seven-horse fields advancing to that $50,000 Championship.