Hinsdale, IL — Last year’s Illinois freshman trotting colt champion Goomster puts his seven-race winning streak on the line Friday afternoon (July 7) at Springfield in a bit of a unique event.

What makes the trotting headliner somewhat unusual is that it brings together three of four recent Cardinal or Violet 3-year-old stakes champions in an early ICF season showdown.

Goomster, trained by his owner Dennis Gardner, crushed his $22,700 Cardinal division foes by four lengths while well in hand at the end of a career best 1:53.4 mile, keeping him perfect this season though his first five races.

Goomster ended his 2-year-old campaign with triumphs in his Kadabra stake elimination and its $144,000 Night of Champions finale at Hawthorne.

Since Goomster’s 2-year-old driver Kyle Wilfong, now an Indiana resident and committed to compete at Hoosier Park this summer (except for Sundays and Illinois bred stake events), Gardner has turned over the driver chores to Travis Seekman after handling his prize trotter in the horse’s first three season’s outings.

Seekman has taken full advantage of the opportunity. The 33-year-old Michigan native steered Goomster to the youngster’s last pair of victories against some formidable fields of trotters.

Taking on the Cassis gelding Friday are the two Violet stake filly division champions, Radiant Diamond (post five) and Fox Valley Shania (post seven).

With regular driver Kyle Wilfong absent, trainer Rick Schrock will be at the lines of Radiant Diamond who was much the best in her 1:56.2 mile, drawing off by more than seven lengths in just the filly’s second start of the season.

The Erv Miller Stable’s Fox Valley Shania (Cordarius Stewart) was much the best in her $22,800 Violet split, leading at every pole despite going out from the eight hole. She was 1-1/4 lengths ahead of her nearest competitor at the end of a 1:57 mile.

Fox Valley Shania had some “behind” issues as a 2-year-old, causing the Can’t Afford It filly to make some breaks in the latter portion of her freshman season where she made over $30,000, while capturing both championships at her class at Springfield and Du Quoin.

Leaving from post four with her trainer and part-owner Curt Grummel is the 2022 Illinois Filly Trotter of the Year Marvelous Mystery, fresh off a game 1:56.1 triumph last week over a field of older trotters. The Lou’s Legacy filly lost any chance she had in her Violet grouping when she made a rare break in the early going and fell back more than 20 lengths behind her field. However, she made up 17 lengths to still grab third place.

Justa Nother Bag (post two, Wyatt Avenatti), Dawn Of Creation (post three, Casey Leonard)) who banked over $45,000 as a juvenile; Lous Andiamo (post six, Matt Krueger), a 1:55.4 victor last month at Springfield, and Reign And Shine (post eight, Jamaica Patton), victorious in three of her last five trips to the starting gate, complete the attractive field.

Doubling Up: The programmed Springfield Friday card will follow the rescheduled Thursday program that was pushed back a day after a heavy downpour Wednesday evening made the all dirt track not fit for racing.

First post for the Thursday card is noon (CDT). The Friday card will follow at approximately 2:15 p.m.