The Tom Simmons stable’s 2-year-old filly pacer Kays In Charge (Travis Seekman) guns for her fifth consecutive victory on Thursday’s Springfield card. (Terry Young Photo)

By Mike Paradise for the IHHA 

  It’s the last three days of Hawthorne’s 2024 downstate harness racing meetings. Next week Illinois Standardbred racing shifts to the Hawthorne facility just outside Chicago’s western city limits where at long last pari-mutuel wagering returns to the Prairie state after an eight-month hiatus and racing goes on rain or shine.

 It’s been a brutal year thus far for Illinois horsemen and fans of the Illinois circuit starting with purse cuts by Hawthorne to offer sub-standard purses at the State Fair venues.

  The all-dirt tracks at Springfield and Du Quoin have seen rain, sometimes even in modest amounts, force the cancelation of downstate racing cards and in some cases compelling important Illinois bred take events to be moved weeks later where some horses weren’t anywhere near the form, they had been on the regular scheduled day of their event.

 Couple that with the mistaken decision by the Illinois Racing Board to take the advice of its staff and conduct races without wagering at both Springfield and Du Quoin (in this author’s opinion), and we continue to head in the wrong direction. With the Horsemen’s purse account about $2.5 million dollars in the hole and no wagering money coming in for more the half the year, the purse account deficient just kept growing.

 Hopefully, some rethinking of critical racing decisions can put the Illinois Standardbred industry back on the right track.

 Meanwhile, with three days of racing left at Springfield the forecast is for sunny skies. According to USTA statistics, Casey Leonard has wrapped up another driving title. Casey has 38 first place finishes at Springfield with Kyle Husted next with 24. He’s followed by Travis Seekman with 18, Marcus Miller at 14. Juan Franco rounds out the top five with 12.

  The Springfield trainer’s race probably won’t be decided until Friday’s card is concluded. Going into Wednesday’s program Tom Simmons has 18 winners and Amy Husted is at 17. Amy is tops in trainer winning percentage at 43.6 with conditioner Curt Grummel next at an even 40 per cent.

 Interestingly, it’s the four post and not the rail with the best winning percentage, 21.2%. The one-post is at 15.3 %, third best behind the three at 16.1 %. The eight-hole has fared well at 11.3 %, better than the six with an even 10 per cent.

 Thursday’s Springfield card brings out a number of high point earnings for Hawthorne’s Night of Champions series. The Tom Simmons stable’s Kays In Charge (Travis Seekman) goes after her fifth consecutive victory in the first race. She tops the 2-year-old filly trot division with 75 points.

 The (Marty) Engle Stable of Northbrook, IL filly will take on High Class Heidi (Juan Franco) third in points; Lous Night Vision (Matt Avenatti) fifth, Lou’s My Number (Casey Leonard) sixth, Lous Avalon (Wyatt Avenatti) eighth, Trixies Sugar Baby (Darla Martin Lohan) tenth, among others.

 A complete list if the NOC point standings can be found by going to: 2024-Noc-Point-Standings-10.02.24-1.pdf

 The Grummel stable’s Whiskey Lou (Casey Leonard), the No. 1 point earner in the 3-year-old filly trot grouping with a perfect score of 100 competes in Thursday’s seventh race against co-Beulah Dygert champion Lous Amazon (75), second best series points-wise. They’ll take on Calypso Moon (fifth), Stand By Your Man (seventh), Ally Baba (ninth) and Dejoma (tenth), along with Gjlindagrit and Tru Fortune.

 Friday’s card has a bevy of ICH champions on its twelve-race program, starting with Illinois Department of Agriculture 2-year-old male pacing titleholder Cash Money Twenty (Casey Leonard) in its first race. The freshman filly pacer Thebeautifulthings (Kyle Husted) will buck the eight-slot in race two when she goes after her fourth in a row and her seventh in eight tries in her first season.

 The filly and mare open lured (in post-position order) Dandy’s Evrlasting, Rollin Coal, Fillys Revenge, Rona Mae, Dandy’s MNM, Fox Valley Exploit and Senorita Mouse. A conditioned trot is loaded with a field of Reign And Shine, Loulita, Marvelous Mystery, Rock Party, Lous Lancelot, Talk About Valor, Lousdobb and Groomster.