Warm temperatures buoy Illinois Night of Champions
by Neil Milbert
Mother Nature can turn into a shrew in mid-November in Chicagoland but, luckily, she was a lady on Saturday (Nov. 15) when Hawthorne Race Course presented its version of The Big Dance, the $1.1 million Night of Champions for Illinois-bred pacers and trotters.
Participants enjoyed unseasonably warm temperatures — after a high of 71 degrees earlier in the day — and a fast track in contrast to 2024 when rain that intensified as the night went on marred the biggest event in Illinois harness racing.
Although the temperature dropped as the night went on and the wind picked up, conditions remained ideal this year.
The richest of the 12 races was the $142,000 Incredible Tillie for 2-year-old filly pacers and the belle of the ball was Evening Slippers, a 29-1 longshot who kicked back a $61 payoff to win bettors after prevailing by 1¾ lengths in 1:53.1, best time of her 12-race career.
Travis Seekman drove Evening Slippers to her fifth victory for owner David Arrenholz and trainer Amanda VanWinkle.
Fox Valley Tamara and Fox Valley Polaris were the early leaders before the 1-5 favorite Fox Valley Fastrak took the lead at the stretch call but was unable to match strides with Evening Slippers when the winner surged in the lane.
Evening Slippers’ was the 4-5 favorite in the previous weekend’s eliminations only to finish seventh. The week before that she was scratched because of the track condition at Springfield after a seventh-place performance on Oct. 23 at the fairgrounds track.
“She made a break at Springfield two starts back, it rained last weekend and she doesn’t do well in the rain,” VanWinkle said, explaining the pair of seventh place finishes.
Ten fillies competed in the championship. Fox Valley Fastrak was second and Dnt Touche My Moss came in third.
Fox Valley Fastrak is trained by Erv Miller and was driven by his son, Marcus.
Three races later they had reason to celebrate, thanks to Fox Valley Jasmine’s head victory over Two Bean Dream in the $116,000 Plum Peachy pace for 3-year-old fillies that was triumph No. 7,000 of Erv’s career.
It was a hard-earned victory. Starting from post-position 9, Fox Valley Jasmine stalked the pace set by A Very Nice Dandy in post 10 for the opening half mile before they dropped back, enabling the favorite, Fox Valley Lava to take the lead with Fox Valley Groupie and Two Bean Dream her closest pursuers at the three-quarter call.
Marcus Miller was able to find racing room for Fox Valley Jasmine on the inside in the stretch and rallied to win by a head in 1:52.3 as the choice in the wagering.
“Absolutely,” answered Erv when asked if having his son in the sulky made victory No. 7,000 extra special.
The 58-year-old trainer recorded his first victory when he was 16 years old.
“What happened?” he said with a laugh. “I don’t remember all those years and all those horses.”
Fox Valley Jasmine was the second victory of the night for the father-and-son team. Earlier they won the $110,000 Fox Valley Flan with even-money favorite Fox Valley Gimlet by three-quarters-of-a-length in 1:55.2, track record time for a 2-year-old filly trotter.
“That’s a big mile!” said the trainer and co-owner of the daughter of Southwind Chrome. “Those Southwind Chromes have been phenomenal this year, and he’s a first crop sire.”
It was only the seventh start of the year for Fox Valley Gimlet and the victory was her sixth. Her lone loss saw her finish eighth in an Aug. 14 race at the State Fair in Springfield.
“She has had some setbacks,” Erv said. “She had entrapment surgery to clear her airways and prior to that her hind leg was bothering her. She has had a lot of time off but she has had a good year in spite of that.”
In the Fox Valley Flan, Shady Maple Chick took the early lead before yielding to longshot Pony Chrome on the backstretch. At the three-quarter call another longshot, Fox Valley Cougar, was making a bid for the lead.
But down the stretch Fox Valley Gimlet made her powerful move and refused to be caught. Late-moving longshot Unhynged Cadeau placed and Shady Maple Check came back along the inside to show.
Erv Miller now uses Hoosier Park as his base after spending recent years with stable branches scattered throughout the East and Midwest.
“I used to stable in Illinois but I left because it [the racing situation] was so bad,” he said. “Now that I’m at Hoosier, we can race in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. Horses can come back to Hoosier and I can see them the next day, which makes a big difference. Who would have ever thought [when Indiana horse owners were trying to get pari-mutuel racing legalized in the state] that racing in Indiana would be a lot better than in Illinois?”
Another noteworthy individual accomplishment was 73-year-old owner/trainer/driver James Lackey’s half-length victory with Lous Lancelot in the $50,000 Plesac trot for older males.
The 6-year-old gelding, who was bred by Flacco Family Farms, was dispatched as the 2-5 favorite in the field of seven. Leaving from post-position 5, he seized the early lead and never relinquished it, winning by three-quarters-of-a-length over Heath Bar in 1:55.4. Lousraptor was third.
Prior to his Night of Champions elimination, Lous Lancelot had been racing in open company at Vernon Downs and Saratoga.
“I bought him at Pocono Downs, probably at the end of June last year,” Lackey said. “He was eligible for this race so I brought him here last year and he finished second.”
Lackey is a native of California.
“All my life I raced in California but then, like so many other places, they killed racing there,” he said. “I came to Illinois and raced here until COVID and then went up to Running Aces in Minnesota.
“This year a guy offered me a job but he wasn’t all that reputable so I came here with my two horses that I have stabled at Sawgrass Farm and got incredibly lucky.”
The spotlight was on last year’s Illinois Horse of the Year Cash Money Twenty in the $110,000 Robert F. Carey Memorial pace for 3-year-old colts and geldings and the even-money favorite delivered a Night of Champions victory for the second straight year for Heart and Soul Racing of Des Moines, IA, trainer Mike Brink and driver Casey Leonard.
He chased Dialogue through the opening quarter before asserting himself on the backstretch and going on to a decisive 5¼-length victory in 1:51.2. Battlin Bob finished second and Dialogue was third.
This was the 19th conquest in Cash Money Twenty’s 26-race career in which he has finished worse than second only twice.
Kyle Wilfong drove 8-1 betting choice Keyser Soze to a surprisingly easy five-length triumph for trainer Tom Simmons and wife/owner Bonita Simmons in the $138,000 Incredible Finale pace for 2-year-old colts and geldings. He was clocked in 1:52.2 in winning for the fourth time in his eight-race career.
Sleazy Captain, trained by Amy Husted and driven by her husband Kyle, placed and In A Minute, trained by Erv Miller and driven by Marcus, showed.
“I thought Kyle Husted’s horse was the horse to beat,” Wilfong said. “Marcus’ horse had the 10-hole and that has just been a killer tonight.”
Keyser Soze was seventh at the quarter, sixth at the half and fifth at three-quarters while Sleazy Captain spent most of that time on the lead.
“I was just hoping to be a good second or third but my horse was able to save so much energy while everybody else raced hard,” Wilfong said.
As it turned out, that was the formula for an upset victory.
In the $50,000 Carl Becker Memorial trot for fillies and mares 3 and up, Whiskey Lou, a Night of Champions winner last year en route to state championship honors in the 3-year-old filly division, overcame the No. 10 post position to win by three-quarters-of-a-length as the 3-5 favorite.
With Marcus Miller doing the driving for owner Randy Wilt and trainer Curt Grummel, Whiskey Lou was timed in 1:54.4. Longshot Lous Amazon took the early lead stalked by Whiskey Lou. Before they’d reached the half-mile mark Whisky Lou had the lead and there was no stopping her.
Lous Amazon held on to secure second place and Peekaboo Sal was third.
The compelling conquest gives Whiskey Lou a 39-race career record of 25 wins, seven places and three shows.
Go Go Go Chrome had been making a habit of finishing second and third for trainer/co-owner Jamaica Patton and driver Juan Franco but the $118,000 Kadabra trot for 2-year-old fillies brought out the best in the 18-1 longshot as she led all the way to win by 3¼ lengths in a career-best clocking of 1:56.2.
The victory was her fifth in 14 starts. Zoomster was second and Fox Valley Sahbra was third.
Fox Valley Snapper, the overwhelming favorite, broke stride going into the first turn and finished ninth in the 10-horse race.
“If the favorite didn’t catch up, I knew there was nobody else who could come up and catch her,” Patton said.
With Wilfong doing the driving for trainer/co-owner Nelson Willis, the favorite Fox Valley Kodiak came from just off the pace in the $50,000 Phil Langley Memorial pace for older males and edged Gorgeous Big Guy by a head.
Fox Valley Silent was a non-threatening third, while 2023 Illinois Horse of the Year He’zzz A Wise Sky wound up fourth in the 10-horse race after leading at the quarter, the half, and three quarters.
Wilfong won his third race of the night when he captured the $88,000 Erwin F. Dygert Memorial trot for 3-year-old colts and geldings with 1-5 favorite Sunburnt Silverado.
Sunburnt Silverado came from second in the stretch to overtake Frontier Macho and win by two-lengths in 1:58.1. Mustang Danny was third.
Sunburnt Silverado is trained by his co-owner/co-breeder Curt Grummel.
The victory improved his 28-race lifetime resume to 15 wins, eight seconds and one third.
Kicking off the Night of Champions was the $83,000 Tony Maurello Memorial pace for older mares and the winner was Bombay Parkway, a 6-year-old mare owned by Ed Teefey, a long-time pillar of the standardbred sport in Illinois.
Brandon Bates did the driving for trainer Walter Haynes, Jr. as Bombay Parkway came from ninth at the opening quarter to impressively win by 1¼ lengths over My Daddy’s Revenge. Bombay Parkway went under the wire in 1:53.1 in winning for the 20th time in her 118-race career.
The closing act was the $83,000 Beulah Dygert trot for 3-year-old fillies and last year’s state champion 2-year-old filly and Night of Champions heroine Lou’s My Number put on an encore performance.
With Leonard in the sulky for trainer/co-owner/co-breeder Steve Searle, she rallied to win by three-quarters-of-a-length in 1:55.4.
Searle was the trainer of three of the other distaffs in the10-horse race, all of them longshots — sixth place Lous Avalon, seventh place Lou Of I, and ninth place Lous Night Vision.
Lous Avalon held the lead on the front end for the first three quarters, before she gave way and Kays In Charge took the lead in the stretch before yielding to the victorious Lou’s My Number. What A Legacy came from fifth to claim third place money.
The 2024 state champion’s victory was her fifth in 15 outings this year.
