The event for Illinois-bred standardbreds will go Saturday at Hawthorne Race Course. 

by Neil Milbert 

Hawthorne Race Course will shell out $1,577,437 on Saturday (Nov. 9) when it presents the main event in Illinois harness racing, the Night of Champions for Illinois-bred pacers and trotters. 

The pacers will compete in the four most lucrative races: the $226,545 Incredible Finale for 2-year-old colts and geldings, the $224,623 Incredible Tillie for 2-year-old fillies, the $189,701 Plum Peachy for 3-year-old fillies and the $155,244 Robert F. Carey, Jr. Memorial for 3-year-old males. 

The four races for trotters that have the biggest pots are: the $144,637 Fox Valley Flan for 2-year-old fillies, the $132,858 Kadabra for 2-year-old males, the $130,744 Erwin Dygert Memorial for 3-year-old colts and geldings and the $109,658 Beulah Dygert Memorial for 3-year-old fillies. 

Completing the 12-race program will be the $80,000 Carl Becker for older mare trotters, which will have only four contestants, and three $60,000 races: the Plesac for older male trotters, the Phil Langley Memorial for older male pacers and the $60,000 Tony Maurello for older mare pacers. 

The Incredible Finale will showcase Cash Money Twenty, a gelding with a 10-race resume consisting of nine triumphs and a second and a career best time of 1:50 at Springfield that is significantly better than that of any of his nine adversaries. Trained by Mike Brink and driven by perennial Hawthorne champion Casey Leonard, Cash Money Twenty won his elimination race by 5½ lengths. 

In the Beulah Dygert Memorial, Leonard will be at the reins of another marquee horse, Whiskey Lou, a daughter of state champion trotting sire Lou’s Legacy who was bred and is owned by Randy Wilt and trained by Curt Grummel. In 2023 Whiskey Lou was chosen the 2023 state champion 2-year-old filly trotter. 

“Her lines [13 12-0-0, 1:53.1 at DuQuoin] pretty much speak for her,” Leonard said. “She drew well [post 3 in the field of 10] and she has been racing well [winning her last four starts with authority after finishing fourth at Springfield on Sept. 11].” 

Leonard has another horse with nice numbers [11 7-1-1] and a favorable history named Lous Private Eye, going for him in the Erwin Dygert Memorial. Last year the colt won the Kadabra for trainer Steve Searle on the Night of Champions and went on to be selected the Illinois-bred champion 2-year-old male trotter. 

However, Lous Private Eye is winless in three starts since going to the winner’s circle at DuQuoin in a State Fair championship race on Aug. 27. The son of Lou’s Legacy was scratched because of sickness on Oct. 19 and when he returned to action in his last start on Nov. 1 he tired after leading at the half-mile call and came in a distant eighth as the 6-5 favorite. 

“He has been a tough luck horse,” Leonard said. “Steve does a good job of getting him ready for big races. If he’s right [physically] he’s good enough [to win on Saturday]. If he’s right he’s one of the best.” 

Another son of Lou’s Legacy, Sunburnt Silverado, will be trying to make amends in the Kadabra after finishing fourth as the 4-5 favorite last time out in an elimination. It was the first time in his 10-race career that the five-time winner was worse than third for Grummel and Leonard. 

Leonard blamed himself. 

“I probably should have had him in a better spot,” he said, looking back on a race in which Sunburnt Silverado never was a factor. “The others in there with him [in the Kadabra] are starting to come around but with the right trip I think he’s one of the best.” 

Louise’s Legacy, another gelding by Lou’s Legacy, has been racing well in the last two months and won the elimination by a head in a lifetime best time of 1:57.4 for trainer and co-owner Erv Miller and his driver son Marcus Miller. 

Leonard, Searle and Lou’s Legacy also are an integral part of the plot in the Fox Valley Flan, thanks to Lou’s My Number. Never worse than third in nine starts for Searle, her trainer, co-owner and breeder, Lou’s My Number won for the first time on Aug. 27 in a DuQuoin State Fair championship race, then was second three-straight times before winning in compelling style in her last start, last weekend. 

Hawthorne’s defending champion trainer, Amy Husted, and her driver husband, Kyle Husted, have a high-class act named Thebeautifulthings going for them in the Incredible Tillie. She is going into the second richest race of the night with seven-straight victories following a loss in her debut. 

Thebeautifulthings was scratched for two races in a row because of illness last month before returning to prevail by 4½ lengths in a powerful performance last weekend. 

“Sickness went through our barn and it hit us pretty hard,” Amy said. “We scratched about eight horses and one weekend we raced only two horses. 

“We weren’t able to train her much; we didn’t want to train her when she was sick. We were planning on racing her easily [last weekend]. The way she won gave me chills because she did it so easily.” 

The Incredible Tillie doesn’t figure to be an easy race. Foremost among Thebeautifulthings’ challengers are Robintino, who has won four in a row for trainer Nick Prather and will have Wyatt Avenatti, at the reins and Wildcat Abby, who has three wins and a game second in her last four outings for Leonard and trainer Roshun Trigg. 

“She’s been ultra-consistent,” said Leonard, looking back on a 16-race composite consisting of nine wins, five places and two shows, capped by an impressive triumph last weekend. 

Leonard will have another filly who figures to be a factor when he takes the reins of Dandy’s Ms Swifty for his father, trainer and co-owner Terry Leonard, in the Plum Peachy. 

Casey said, “It’s probably the most wide-open event of the races for pacers. Hypeyourbestieup [seven-for-12] has shown she’s probably the best one in there and Fox Valley Sadie [also seven-for-12] is going to be tough. On occasion, ‘Swifty’ has jumped up and beaten the good ones.” 

Fox Valley Sadie is trained by Amy Husted and driven by her husband, Kyle. After winning two in a row at Springfield she became sick and had to be scratched from an Oct. 19 elimination race. She returned on Nov. 1 and recorded her seventh victory in 12 starts this year, winning by an impressive 4¾ lengths. 

“She was another who got sick but bounced back nicely,” Amy said. “She had a horse outside of her almost the whole way and then drew away in the stretch. Coming off being sick it was very impressive. She loves to win.” 

The Robert F. Carey, Jr. Memorial flaunts another superstar in Saturday night’s galaxy, Gorgeous Big Guy, who was victorious in last year’s Incredible Finale and equaled the track record time of 1:52.1 for age, sex and gait, en route to being crowned Illinois-bred champion 2-year-old male. Picking up where he left off after recording seven wins and four places in 11 races in 2023, Gorgeous Big Guy has done even better this year for trainer Erv Miller and driver Marcus Miller as reflected by an 11-race resume adorned by 10 firsts and 1 second. 

Goomster, last year’s Illinois-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male trotter, will seek to win a Night of Champions race for the third-consecutive year when the gelding moves up to the older male group in the Plesac. 

He has been having a hard time living up to his sky-high 2023 standards that saw him take 16 trips to the winner’s circle and finish second four times in 21 races for trainer Desirae Seekman and her driver husband Travis Seekman. After being scratched for illness on June 20, Goomster didn’t return to competition until October. Since then he has recorded two of his three victories in 12 starts but finished eighth and a distant fifth in his other two races. 

The Phil Langley Memorial boasts three of the biggest names in Illinois racing: Fox Valley Gemini, He’zzz A Wise Sky and Fox Valley Landen. 

The 9-year-old Fox Valley Gemini has established himself as one of Hawthorne’s all-time great horses after winning Night of Champions races for six-straight years for owner Jim Ballinger, trainer Terry Leonard and driver Casey Leonard before finishing third in this race last year. 

According to Casey, Fox Valley Gemini’s age is starting to “catch up with him.” 

Casey said, “He has had an okay year [16 4-3-5]. He raced really well at DuQuoin one week and we thought we had him back. In the DuQuoin State Fair finals he disappointed us and then he raced just okay at Springfield but his last two starts [a second and a third at Hawthorne] have suggested he might be coming around. 

“But we don’t have real high expectations because He’zzz A Wise Sky and Fox Valley Landen are extremely impressive. He’zzz A Wise Sky is a well-traveled professional. It’s really a shame that Fox Valley Landen ran into the starting gate last time out [finishing sixth as the even-money favorite].” 

Pacesetting He’zzz A Wise Sky was first in that race, hanging on to win by a head at the expense of Fox Valley Langley, another opponent in Saturday’s encounter. It was the seventh victory on a 28-race past performance sheet this year that includes several races at out-of-state tracks. 

Last year when He’zzz A Wise Guy was selected the state champion older male pacer he won this race — then known as the Robert Molaro Memorial — for trainer John Filomeno and driver Kyle Wilfong. 

Fox Valley Landen is moving up to an older age group following an outstanding 2023 campaign that saw him win the Carey Memorial for the Husteds and become the state champion 3-year-old male pacer. That 6½-length victory was the most decisive of the night. 

After going 11-for-14 last year Fox Valley Landen is seven-for-14 this year. 

“He was one of the first of our horses to get sick,” Amy said. “We tried him at Hoosier [where he was scratched because of illness on Oct. 12 and finished fourth the following week]. Then, we brought him back to Hawthorne where he won [on Oct. 25] and ran into the starting gate and made the break last week. He still managed to come back on stride and after the wire he passed all of the other horses. 

“In the State Fair final at DuQuoin he won in 1:47, setting the track record and equaling My Boy David’s record for the fastest ever time for an Illinois-bred that was set at Springfield. I said to Kyle, ‘For him to set that record at DuQuoin, after so many great horses went behind the gate there, is crazy.’ To get that mark is special.” 

The wife-husband trainer-driver team has another sky-high profile horse, the 7-year-old mare Fox Valley Exploit, in the Tony Maurello. She was a four-time Night of Champions winner before having to settle for third last year. 

“Every single year she has raced hard and now she’s close to $500,000 in career earnings [with a 110-race bankroll of $496,638],” Amy said. “We’re hoping she will pass that milestone on Saturday.” 

Last year’s Plum Peachy winner and Illinois-bred champion 3-year-old filly pacer, Fox Valley Leah, is seemingly the most formidable of her nine foes. In 2023 she was 10-for-11 for driver/ trainer and co-owner Todd Warren but this year she has made frequent out-of-state forays for open races and her resume reads four-for-14. 

The Carl Becker Memorial is the most unique of the 12 races because of the ultra-short field. 

Loulita, a 6-year-old mare bred and owned by Flacco Family Farms, trained by Searle and driven by Leonard, and Marvelous Mystery, a 4-year-old who will have Miller doing the driving for Grummel, look like the best of the four contestants. Both are daughters of Lou’s Legacy; Loulita has won six of her 14 races this year, while Marvelous Mystery has won two of her six.