Fox Valley Tessa (Wyatt Avenatti) overcame her sickness in time to win the 2024 Night of Champions $189,701 Plum Peachy 3-year-old filly pace final. (Four Footed Fotos)



By Mike Paradise for the IHHA

 Often the road to a successful showing in a major race isn’t a smooth one and you can add the name of Fox Valley Tessa, the 2023 Plum Peachy champion to that list. In fact, it was nip and tuck that the 3-year-old ICF filly would even make Hawthorne’s Night of Champions Final.

 The Time To Roll filly began her sophomore campaign for then trainer Steve Searle picking up purse checks but going winless in her first 10 season starts. However, the daughter of the Art Major mare She’s D Bomb captured the first leg of the Plum Peachy series and its 50 series bonus points in early October and looked like a cinch to be in the filly stake final.

 Nevertheless, she didn’t race against for over a month and almost missed the richest race in her division.

 “At the time we had a lot of sickness going on in our barn,” said conditioner Steve Searle who going into the Night of Champions shared ownership of Fox Valley Tessa, a $10,000 yearling buy, with B Code of Bradford, Illinois, James Nellinger of Peoria, Illinois, and Gretchen Barnett of San Diego, California.

 “Fox Valley Nessa was one of my horses who got sick,” continued the long time Grant Park, Illinois trainer. “I thought she got over her sickness in time for the second Plum Peachy leg but a couple days before her start, she did some coughing. While a $20,000 purse is nice money, the welfare of the filly is way more important, so I scratched her.

 “That meant that she had to qualify again, and she did nicely (1:55.2), one week before the Night of Champions. In the final she got a nice drive from Wyatt (Avenatti) and won. It was only her second win of the year but all of a sudden, she had over $112,000 on her card.”

 Keeping a horse healthy throughout the racing season can be a worrisome and difficult task, especially with all the traveling Illinois horsemen had to do last year.

 “We all had to do a lot of shipping,” continued Steve. “It seemed every week we were in a different barn. Keeping track of all the medicine for our horses’ needs isn’t an easy task but by wife Debbie has done a terrific job of doing it.”

  Two weeks after her Night of Champions victory, Fox Valley Tessa was acquired by the Amy and Kyle Husted stable and is currently competing at Woodbine in Canada with the barn’s other Illinois breds such as Fox Valley Landen, Chickabell, Doctor Cruise and Fox Valley Tatum.

  Fox Valley Tessa chalked up a pair of triumphs for the Husted’s in last month’s Woodbine Niagara series before finishing fifth in the $25,000 final.

 The mare has made over $16,000 in her seven starts for Husted Racing LLC (Altamont, IL), John Schwarz Jr. (Wood Dale, IL), Wilson Rigg (Anna, TX) and Scott Rigg (Quincy, IL).