Archived Notes and Quotes

By Mike Paradise   Hawthorne’s perennial leading driver Casey Leonard was the star of the 2021 Night of Champions, bringing home four winning horses on Illinois’ premier evening of harness racing.   It was also more

By Mike Paradise   It’s hard to believe that nearly five months of harness racing is already behind us but here we are with Hawthorne’s Night of Champions upon us.   It’s already the 25th more

By Mike Paradise   It was a year ago when the distaff pacers Fox Valley Exploit and Allbeastnobeauty made Illinois history by each winning championships on the same Super Night program.   The then three-year-old more

By Mike Paradise   The finalists for next Saturday’s three-year-old Night of Champion events were determined last night after a quartet of $15,000 final series legs were completed, each with a $15,000 pot on the more

By Mike Paradise   Driver Kyle Wilfong and trainer Herman Wheeler were the stars of Friday night’s bevy of ICF stake eliminations or series legs that determined next week’s finalists on Hawthorne’s Night of Champions. more

By Mike Paradise   Except for the September 25th Night of Champions, this is the evening that we will see the best ICF pacers and trotters in action more than at any other time of more

By Mike Paradise Congratulations go out to long-time horseman Tom Simmons who will soon attain a very rare milestone for an Illinois based trainer.  When Kelly D won Friday night’s first race it put Simmons more

By Mike Paradise   A couple of out-of-state gals are back in town with sights set on padding their bank account Saturday night at Hawthorne.   Those “gals” would be the Hoosier Park pacing invaders more

By Mike Paradise   After knocking off the three-time Illinois Harness Horse of the Year Fox Valley Gemini a week ago the Australian bred invader Braeview Bondi A. takes on this year’s No. 1 Hawthorne more

By Mike Paradise   In what appears to be an effort to mimic the socialist dream of “Spreading the Wealth”, the pacing mare Maggie Rhee was banished from competing at Hawthorne almost the entire month more

By Mike Paradise   You’ll never get an argument from me that “the older you get, the faster time flies.”   Can it be we’re already in the month of September and we’re in n more

By Mike Paradise   The always popular Open Pace returns to Hawthorne Friday but this time with some very meaningful changes in its field.   The 2020 Illinois Harness Horse of the Year He’zzz A more

By Mike Paradise   Harness racing at the 2021 Du Quoin State Fair concluded Saturday afternoon but not before more ICF champions were crowned after proving best in some historic stake events.   The nine-race more

By Mike Paradise   It was “Racing Under the Lights” as the two-day harness racing meet at the Du Quoin State Fair got under way Friday night.   Instead of sunny skies and temperatures in more

By Mike Paradise   Illinois harness racing undergoes a significant change of scenery tonight with the opening of the two-day meeting at the Du Quoin State Fair.   Instead of a background of expressways and more

By Mike Paradise   After having to compete in Indiana in two of his last three starts, the Merv Chupp Stable’s “money making machine” Pine Dream is back on the local scene for Sunday’s $12,000 more

By Mike Paradise   He’zzz A Wise Sky didn’t just reclaim the crown last night as the top aged pacer at the Hawthorne meet, the four-year-old ICF pacer took it back with an abundance of more

By Mike Paradise   With sunny skies and a warm 88 degrees, the 2021 harness racing meet at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield came to an end Thursday afternoon.  Eight Illinois State Fair Colt more

By Mike Paradise   The 2021 Springfield harness racing meeting comes to a close today but not before eight ICF pacers or trotters will leave with a prominent Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes championship on more

By Mike Paradise   At the age of seven Annas Lucky Star is showing no signs of slowing down.   On Saturday afternoon the Nelson Willis trained trotting mare won for the 45th time in more

By Mike Paradise   A quartet of Illinois State Fair Colt Stake championships will be decided Saturday afternoon at the Springfield fairgrounds and some of best and most popular Standardbreds in our state will be more

(Friday’s Springfield State Fair races have been postponed. They will attempt to race the Friday and Saturday cards beginning on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Friday’s card first, followed by Saturday).     By Mike Paradise more

By Mike Paradise   The reappearance of the circuit’s Open for trotters is Sunday’s Hawthorne headliner however it will have to share the spotlight with a two-year-old event that could give us a preview of more

By Mike Paradise   After a three-week hiatus the circuit’s $12,000 filly and mare Open Pace returns Saturday and that means “Maggie” is back in town, a reference to the talented Todd Warren trained mare more

By Mike Paradise   One thing you gotta love about horse racing is that you just never know what’s going to happen once the starting car draws away.   A lot of us, and that more

By Mike Paradise   Illinois long-time trotting queen Annas Lucky Star is getting old like the rest of us but her passion to compete hasn’t diminished one bit.   The now seven-year-old ICF star has more

By Mike Paradise   A number of years have passed since we’ve seen the name Erv Miller among the leading trainers at a Chicago circuit harness racing session, however, that’s no longer the case.   more

By Mike Paradise   After a three-week absence our version of the “Battle of the Titans” returns tonight when ICF standouts He’zzz A Wise Sky and Fox Valley Gemini square off with the return of more

By Mike Paradise   Can the Steve Searle trained filly trotter Loulita follow in the footsteps, or should I say hoof steps, of her stablemates Louzotic and Lous Abigail and deliver a third consecutive Beulah more

By Mike Paradise   The adage “What a Difference a Year Makes” sometimes applies to racehorses and that’s certainly the case of the filly Hart’s Heart, the heavy favorite in tonight’s third leg of the more