Hinsdale, IL — Unless you’re a novice of our sport, one of the first things you look at when handicapping a race of 2-year-olds is their breeding, and you would be following in the same thought process of most trainers looking at a yearling catalog while attempting to “smoke out” a potential sale purchase.
Is the horse from a winning family? Does he or she have any brothers or sisters that have been very successful on the racetrack?
We applied that logic to the early portion of Friday’s (July 26) Du Quoin card where Illinois freshmen eligible to Hawthorne’s down the road Night of Champions will compete against each other and did the research for you.
One particular race, the fourth, stands out concerning siblings.
Making her Du Quoin debut is Lous Night Vision, not surprisingly Casey Leonard’s choice among three trotters to drive in the contest. Owned by her breeder Flacco Family Farms, Lous Night Vision is by Lou’s Legacy, out of Bands One Eye Love, therefore she’s a full sister to Illinois champions Lousdobb and Lous Private Eye. All three trotters are trained by Steve Searle.
Lous Night Vision got her first taste of competition two weeks ago at the Henry County Fair, winning easily in 2:15 on a “good track” and Casey did the driving, his first trip to Henry in decades, so he must be high on the young filly.
Lousdobb twice won ICF divisional honors under Searle’s guidance while Lous Private Eye was the 2023 Illinois 2-year-old male trot titleholder and is unbeaten in in his sophomore campaign.
In Friday’s same race Flacco Family Farms debuts Lous Avalon (Wyatt Avenatti). Another daughter of Lou’s Legacy, her dam is Snarky Lane, the same breeding of the farm’s Lous Mandalorian (3,1:58.2), one of the contenders in this year’s ICF sophomore colt and gelding trot division.
Ironically, another Lou’s Legacy prodigy with champion breeding is also in the same race: What A Legacy (Mike Brink). She’s out of the dam Little Rigs. Her full sister is Stand By Your Man, the winner of last year’s Fox Valley Flan championship for trainer Brink. What A Legacy sold for $34,000 at the Walker Sale last year.
Brink’s first-time starter in race five is Fox Valley Jericho (Casey Leonard). He’s by Somestarsomewhere from the dam Roll With Josie, the same family tree as successful state-bred pacers Fox Valley Steeler (3,1:52.2) and Fox Valley York (2,1:55).
Another Somestarsomewhere colt bowing is the Gary Rath stable’s Sleazyandincharge (Wyatt Avenatti) for the Engel Stable. He’s a half-brother to Illinois bred pacers Sleazeburgernfries (3,1:51.4) and Sleazeburgersleazeburger (3.1:51.4).
Later on the card defending state-bred filly trot titleholder Whiskey Lou (Casey Leonard) puts her six race winning streak on the line in race 11.
The Flacco Family Farm will be watching the 12-race program from start to finish. Its champion Lousdobb (Casey Leonard) guns for his 20th lifetime victory in the nightcap.