Springfield, IL — It’s very unusual to see four separate defending state-bred champion trotters in the same race, especially when it’s a five-horse field. What’s also rare is a six-year age gap between this ICF fivesome.

Three of the trotters are now 3-year-olds, one is making her sophomore season debut against the boys, another is a 4-year-old, while the other is no “spring chicken.” She’s nine, however she shows no signs of slowing down.

The veteran of this Illinois bred trotting “fab-five” is Annas Lucky Star (post three, Juan Franco), fresh off her 58th career victory. She’ll go to the gate Friday (June 16) at Springfield with a gaudy lifetime bankroll of $638,010 for her owner and breeder Danny Graham from the southern Illinois town of Salem.

The Nelson Willis trained Queen of the Illinois trotters was just a nose better a week ago in a Du Quoin Open than Lousdobb (post one, Casey Leonard), the 2022 ICF champion 3-year-old colt trotter from the barn of trainer Steve Searle.

The gifted son of Lou’s Legacy won his first two starts of the year after he was put on Lasix and has gone over the $200,000 mark in money earned in 27 lifetime starts for Flacco Family Farms and All-Wright Racing.

Starting between Lousdobb and Annas Lucky Star is Dennis Gardner’s Goomster, last year’s freshman state-bred trotting colt champion who is riding a five-race winning streak and is 3-for-3 this season for his owner and trainer. Gardner has turned over the lines Friday to Travis Seekman.

Niko Man (post four, Cordarius Stewart), who gave Goomster all he could handle in a number of ICF freshman stake slugfests, had the misfortune to draw the second tier (post 10) in his sophomore season debut last week at Hoosier Park and was a non-factor for the Midwest Division of the Erv Miller Stable. You can expect much better from this son of Cassis today.

In a very difficult spot for her initial start as a 3-year-old is the Grummel family’s good-looking filly Marvelous Mystery (post five). She’ll be driven by her trainer Curt Grummel who shares ownership of the daughter of Lou’s Legacy with brother Craig and their father Leo, all from Carrollton, Ill.

Marvelous Mystery dominated the freshman filly state-bred ranks last year, winning 10 of an even dozen outings. Her only two losses, both second place finishes, came on the state fairground ovals at Springfield and Du Quoin. She ran away with her division’s top honor while pulling down almost $130,000 for the Grummel family.

When asked about the challenging competition his filly will be facing, especially after being on the sidelines for nine months, Curt replied: “This isn’t the spot I was looking for to get the filly her first start of the year but with the Violet coming up, this will have to do. I can race her easy Friday without betting. It’s a strong group of Illinois bred trotters she’ll be facing.”

How is Marvelous Mystery going into Friday’s race?

“She’s doing okay,” Curt answered. “There are a few little things I would like to be better with her, like her shoeing, but on the dirt track she’ll race without shoes anyway. She’s been training best without them.”

The “fab-five” group of trotters aren’t the only ICF champions on Friday’s card.

Three-time Illinois Harness Horse of the Year Fox Valley Gemini (Casey Leonard) tries to stay unbeaten as an 8-year-old in race nine and this time the star of the Terry Leonard Stable has a tougher test to pass when he leaves from post seven in the eight-horse field.

Fox Valley Gemini went over the $700,000 level in purse earnings for owner Jim Ballinger with last week’s ICF Open triumph.

Coming in from Hoosier Park is Trent Stohler trained 5-year-old ER Rocky (post five, Travis Seekman) to take on “Gemini.” ER Rocky sped to a 1:50 clocking last month at Hoosier. The gelding boasts a 1:49.2 mark, taken at the Indiana track last year.