Hinsdale, IL – The Open Pace returns to Hawthorne on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 9) after a two-week hiatus due to an insufficient number of entries.
That isn’t the case this time around as there are nine horses, five of them Australian breds, entered for the sixth race feature.
The Down Under pacers have won the last three Opens, and four of the last five, contested on Hawthorne’s mile oval and while it’s no sure thing, chances are that trend likely will continue Sunday.
The first six posts were drawn, and they’ll be manned by Sanday A (Casey Leonard), Round Here Buzz (Cordarius Stewart), Montana Chief A (Todd Warren), Ben Racin (Mike Oosting), Clearchoice De Vie (Wyatt Avenatti), and Mustang Beach (Travis Seekman).
Anotherstatement A (Brandon Bates), a very competitive second in the last two local Opens will start from post seven.
Brooklyn Bridge A (Kyle Wilfong) and Away We Go A (Juan Franco) drew posts eight and nine with the former, the winner of both the Dec. 28 and Jan. 11 Hawthorne Opens. Both Aussie pacers are trained by veteran horseman Ronnie Roberts for Addison, IL proprietors Castaldo Racing Stable. They also own the Western Terror 9-year-old gelding Sanday A, driven for the first time by Casey Leonard.
Former Chicago circuit trainer champion Perry Smith also has a threesome in the Open field that he owns—Round Here Buzz, Ben Racin, and Mustang Beach.
The move to the outside post is significant for Away We Go A who will be without his regular driver Marcus Miller. The 7-year-old gelding boasts a pair of Open triumphs at the Hawthorne winter meeting; however, both came with two-hole journeys. Getting on, or close the front today, looks like a arduous task.
Both Brooklyn Bridge and Anotherstatement came away from the gate quickly in their last Open start, and could be going out again this afternoon, and they won’t be alone.
Sunday’s earlier 12:30 p.m. first post is due to the Super Bowl.
Sunday’s second feature is leg one the Springfield Pop-Up series for horses with a Trackmaster rating of 82 or less (84 for ICF horses), producing a 10-horse eighth race field of some nice pacers.
The early favorite is the Somestarsomewhere 4-year-old Sailor Sam gelding who has been pacing up a storm lately for Springfield, IL based horseman Tom Simmons. Brandon Bates took over the driving chores on Sailor Sam in mid-January and after the pacer dropped a head decision, he has breezed in his two latest outings.
Also expected to get plenty of the public’s support is Real Cool Cole (Todd Warren), making his debut for trainer Perry Smith after being claimed for $12,000 a week ago. The 5-year-old gelding was first plucked out of a $8,000 claiming event on December 23rd by trainer Terry Leonard, chalking up two wins, a second, and a third last week despite pacing a rapid 27 flat last quarter for the Harvard, Illinois resident.
The $8,000 pot also attracted Genie Ina Bottle (Cordarius Stewart), Rock Steady Ron (Kyle Wilfong), Mr Charisma (Brandon Bates), Dragon Perfect (Juan Franco), Flickadawrist (Casey Leonard), Fox Valley Steeler (Kwon Waldron), Fox Valley Cayman (Wyatt Avenatti) and Major Attribute (Travis Seekman).