by Mike Paradise, publicity director, Maywood Park

Melrose Park, IL — With three months of rest and relaxation behind her, it’s time for the prolific Illinois bred mare Giggles The Clown to get back to work and it seems only fitting that the now seven-year-old Roger Welch trainee makes her 2004 debut on Wednesday on her favorite racetrack.

Through her first six seasons “Giggles” has racked up $588,025 in earnings for owners Mary and Robert Gangloff (Logansport, Indiana) and Roger’s son Ryan (Beecher, Illinois), winning 38 of 107 lifetime starts, including a bevy of ICF stakes, and sharing the four-year-old track record at both Balmoral Park (1:50³) and here on Maywood Park’s half-mile oval (1:52³).

While “Giggles” .350 winning batting average would be the envy of any major league baseball player, a glance at her Maywood Park career record would make her an automatic Hall of Fame inductee. How does a 50 per cent (13 for 26) winning clip on Chicago’s half-mile oval sound?

“Giggles” has been installed as the 9-5-morning line favorite for Wednesday’s $9,500 ninth race conditioned pace. She’ll have the services of her regular driver Dave Magee, leaving from the five slot where she’ll be tested by Fox Valley Funny (10-1), Kennan’s Mary (6-1), Iwantasumpun (15-1), Kennan’s Mama (9-2), Art Collection (5-2), Major Sunset (20-1) and CJR Bogert (15-1).

Trainer Roger Welch reports his star mare is fit and ready after an impressive 1:58 qualifier on January 21 at Balmoral, a clocking two seconds faster than any of the other 11 qualifiers last Wednesday morning.

“Dave (Magee) said she was extremely strong and had a ton of pace,” said Roger.

This will be the mare’s first outing since last October 30, a season where she was a nine time winner, including a trio of winter Opens at Freehold, an April Open Pace here, and even a July conditioned pace 1:54⁴ triumph where she lugged more than a few extra pounds around this track with her 6-0, 180-pound trainer/driver in her bike.

Welch came close to having “Giggles” compete in a race as a trotter. He had the Sportsmaster mare try to qualify with Magee on January 7 at Balmoral. She trotted in 2:04 after making a break behind the gate. Her last quarter was in :29⁴ when she finished second by nine lengths after spotting the field 15 lengths at the start.

“This mare just loves to trot and never makes breaks,” Roger explained. “I train her free-legged because when I put the hobbles on her she really wants to go and grabs on a lot and it’s hard to slow her down. I had trained her a couple of times on the trot in 2:12 and I wanted to train her on the pace in early January, but when I got out there with her she wouldn’t shake loose on the trot and stayed flat, trotting in 2:04.

“Since she already has a mark of 1:50 on the pace I thought it would be fun to have a double mark on her, so I decided to try and put a trotting mark on her with their trotting series that was coming up at the time, and I put her in a Balmoral qualifier,” said the 40-year-old Belvidere, Illinois native.

“In a schooling race at Balmoral she trotted very strong for me, and despite making a break went in 2:01, with a last half in :59,” Welch continued. “The following week I let Magee drive her and she trotted well, despite making a break at the gate, but I thought then that I didn’t want to take a chance of her hurting herself, so I decided to qualify her last Wednesday on the pace.

“She had tied up on us on Super Night (Ann Vonian Final) and after that race she just wasn’t that sharp,” Roger added. “She needed some time off so we decided to give it to her. The mare was just simply tired, after racing hard all year long. Now she’s back in top shape and has gained some weight. She’s always responded well and come back strong when I’ve given her a rest like this in the past.”

L & L DeVisser’s Art Collection (Dale Hiteman) has back class and the early 5-2 second choice looks like a formidable foe for “Giggles” in Wednesday evening’s feature race. The five-year-old Artsplace mare has lifetime earnings of $260,259 with $156,179 of that total earned in her sophomore campaign when she earned purse checks in the Matron, Lady Maud and Courageous Lady stakes.