Gorgeous Big Guy, shown here with Cordarius Stewart at his lines, goes after his 17th consecutive victory on Saturday’s opening night of Hawthorne’s meeting. (Terry Young Photo) 



By Mike Paradise for the IHHA 

 The 2024 Hawthorne harness racing meeting returns to its home base in Chicago’s near west suburb of Stickney IL this weekend with leg three of its Night of Champions stake series. First post is at 7:10 pm.

 Eight divisions for 3-year-old ICF pacers and trotters head up Saturday’s 15-race program while nine divisions for state-bred 2-year-olds are the feature races on Sunday’s card.

 Saturday’s fourth race first grouping of the Robert F. Carey Jr. Memorial will see the streaking Gorgeous Big Guy put his remarkable 16-race winning streak on the line. Former Illinois circuit driver Marcus Miller is back in his home state to guide the home-bred Ashlee’s Big Guy gelding away from the two-post in eight horse field.

 Owned by Doug Overhiser (New Smyma Beach, Florida) and Mark Winship (Canton, Illinois), the Erv Miller trainee finished his first season with seven consecutive victories for a sweep of the major Illinois bred stakes including the Incredible Finale championship on the Night of Champions, banking over $155,000 for the year.

 It’s been more of the same for Gorgeous Big guy in his sophomore campaign. He’s 9-for 9 with another $74,215 added to his bankroll with a lifetime mark of 1:49.3, taken in his Cardinal division triumph back in late June. He also won a split of the Dudley Hanover stake at Du Quoin, and the $55,000 Illinois Department of Agriculture championship at Springfield.

 The last time the youngster lost a race with a purse was more than a year ago in a Michigan stake event at the Hart fair track. He’s been perfect since acquired by the Erv Miller stable

 While Gorgeous Big Guy is in a sweet spot with the two-slot Saturday, one of his main rivals Doctor Cruise (Kyle Husted) is inside of him with the rail and is very quick from the gate. Sometime in the race the likely heavy favorite Gorgeous Big Guy will probably have to race first up to gain command.

 The Mike Brink stable’s Fox Valley Julian (Casey Leonard) drew an outside post, the seven, nevertheless he is another threat to end Gorgeous Big Guy’s long winning streak. While Fox Valley Julian is winless in 10 starts this year, the youngster has been third or better seven times and was 9-fo-9 hitting the board as a freshman.

 Fox Valley Kodiak (Kyle Husted) who nosed-out the highly regarded Guitar Man (Travis Seekman) last week will meet his rival again in the Carey’s second division ninth race. New to the NOC series is Negotiator (Marcus Miller), another Erv Miller potential threat despite drawing the outside eight post.

 The Sometimesomewhere gelding was unraced as a 2-year-old and this year has been successful in 6 of his 9 outings with a 1:50.4 win a week ago. Negotiator’s dam is Fox Valley Jazzy whose younger sister Fox Valley Jasmine competes Sunday in a division of the Incredible Tillie series, a race Fox Valley Jazzy won in the 2017 Night of Champions finale.

 The Plum Peachy for second season pacing fillies drew 23 entries and will go in a pair of fields with trailers.

 The sixth race first split has 11 hopefuls with Fox Valley Sadie (Kyle Husted), from the barn of Amy Husted likely to get the bulk of the players’ support after two consecutive strong victories, pushing her purse money earnings to over $53,000 in 2024.

 The second Plum Peachy division landed an even dozen fillies in race eight. The Jamaica Patton trained Hypeyourbestieup (Travis Seekman), Dandy’s Ms Swifty (Casey Leonard) and Fox Valley Tessa (Wyatt Avenatti) are the likely betting favorites.