Hawthorne resumes racing, starting tonight
by Neil Milbert
Harness racing will return to the Chicago metropolitan area tonight (Nov. 7) for the first time since Feb. 23, when Hawthorne Race Course begins its Suburban Downs meeting that will continue through Feb. 15.
Racing is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through December and for Saturday and Sunday in January and February.
It’s a far cry from 1970 when Hawthorne held its inaugural harness meeting. At that time there were five other tracks in the metropolitan area with harness meetings — Maywood Park, Sportsman’s Park, Washington Park, Balmoral Park, and Aurora Downs. That’s one more than that year’s combined total of the New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia metropolitan areas.
What’s more, the DuQuoin State Fair was then the site of the Hambletonian, making Illinois the harness racing capital of North America.
That was then.
Now, since the 2024-25 fall/winter meeting ended in February there have been only nine pari-mutuel programs in the state, all in August. There were five cards at Springfield, which is located 175 miles from Hawthorne, and four at DuQuoin, which is 313 miles away.
In order to partially fill the purse money void, starting in June there were twice weekly non-betting cards at those two State Fair tracks, funded mainly by Hawthorne’s purse account.
Good turnouts at the entry box were in evidence for the start of the Hawthorne meeting this weekend. Tonight’s agenda called for nine races, offering $152,000 in purses. There will be 10 races with pots totaling $184,200 on Saturday, and 12 races with purses totaling $146,300 on Sunday.
All three nights will be highlighted by eliminations for the marquee event in Illinois racing — Hawthorne’s Night of Champions for Illinois-breds on Nov. 15.
Last year’s Illinois-bred Horse of the Year, Cash Money Twenty, is scheduled to compete on opening night in the $20,000 third leg of the eliminations for the Robert F. Carey, Jr. Memorial for 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers.
The Saturday card will showcase Fox Valley Snapper in the $20,000 third leg of the eliminations for the Kadabra trot for 2-year-old males. Trainer Erv Miller is the co-owner of the gelded son of Southwind Chrome—Fish Is Fish by Andover Hall and he will be driven by Erv’s son, Marcus, when he goes after his fifth victory in six outings.
The most menacing of his five adversaries appears to be Fox Valley Sahbra, owner of a three-race winning streak and a 12-race portfolio consisting of five triumphs, two places and two shows.
Trainer/co-owner Tom Simmons will have perennial Hawthorne driver champion Casey Leonard at the reins of the gelded son of Southwind Chrome—Fox Valley Strata by Vaporize.
Erv and Marcus Miller will have Fox Valley Gimlet — a 2-year-old trotting filly by Southwind Chrome —Bambino Speed by Donato Hanover — going for them in the $20,000 third leg of the Fox Valley Flan.
In the $20,000 third leg of the Incredible Tillie for 2-year-old filly pacers they have one of the most impressive performers on the card, Fox Valley Fastrak in quest of her seventh victory in eight starts. The daughter of Somestarsomewhere—Subway Hanover by Yankee Cruiser flaunts a time of 1:53.3 on Aug. 14 at Springfield, by far the fastest in the eight-filly field.
Sunday’s eliminations will bring out two winners of back-to-back Illinois-bred championships — 4-year-old Lous Private Eye in the $20,000 elimination for the Plesac for older male trotters and 7-year-old Scorecard Dandy in the $20,000 elimination for the Tony Maurello Memorial pace for fillies and mares 3 and up. Both have been doing most of their racing out of state in open company competition.
Marcus Miller will drive Scorecard Dandy and Kyle Wilfong will be in the sulky behind Scorecard Dandy.
Another horse in Sunday’s eliminations with a sky-high profile is He’zzz A Wise Sky, an 8-year-old horse competing in the $20,000 Langley Memorial for older male pacers. The defending Illinois-bred titlist in that division has been racing in Minnesota at Running Aces and in his return to Illinois trainer John Filomeno will have Leonard in the driver’s seat.
With the likes of 2024 Horse of the Year Cash Money Twenty and three-time Night of Champions winner He’zzz A Wise Sky at his disposal Leonard feels as though he is in a good position to add another Hawthorne driving title to his collection. He also feels good about the 20 horses he and his father have in their stable that is based outside Harvard in northern Illinois.
“I’ve got a lot of good connections,” he said. “We’re in the best position we can be with the funny schedule we’ve got.”
Unlike many drivers and trainers competing at the current meeting, Leonard stayed in Illinois after the last Hawthorne meeting, racing in the non-betting competition and the State Fairs at Springfield and DuQuoin and “a couple of county fairs.”
Marcus Miller, meanwhile, is back on the scene of his first pari-mutuel victory in the summer of 2007.
“I did a quick stint at Hawthorne and then I drove at [now defunct] Balmoral and Maywood,” Marcus said. “Shortly thereafter we left and didn’t go back to Chicago for a while.
“My father [who once had a number of stable branches] still has a lot of horses but most of them, including the Illinois-breds, are in Indiana now. We have a nice group of 2-year-olds, that’s for sure.
“I’ll be at Hawthorne through the [Night of Champions] stakes races for sure. I’ll see how it goes. I’m not 100 per cent sure I’ll stay for the entire meeting.”
The meeting also is a homecoming for Wilfong. He and his trainer/father, Brett Wilfong, and Kyle’s trainer/wife, Nicole, made this their headquarters before Bret moved his operation to Indiana.
“We’ll race a few of our horses at Hawthorne till the first of the year,” Kyle said. “Then, I’ll take a month off and then come back to Hoosier when it starts up.
“I still enjoy being in Illinois. This is where I got my start driving and where my dad and I would train horses together. For me, it has worked out in Indiana but Illinois is where I’ve always wanted to call home. It’s hard to close that book; you want to keep it open.”
Legislative Update: A harness racing bill passed the Illinois Senate with bi-partisan support during the mini-session of the legislature that ended the last week in October and the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association (IHHA) is working on getting the bill passed when the legislators return in January for their spring session.
The bill authorizes a new track and racino near Decatur, a city located midway between Champaign-Urbana, where the university of Illinois is located, and the state capital in Springfield and removes the 35-mile boundary between competing racetracks, opening the door for a south suburban Chicago harness track and racino in relatively close proximity to Hawthorne.
“I’m hopeful,” said IHHA executive director Tony Somone. “You have to have hope.”
