Hinsdale, IL — Good things can eventually come to those who persevere though some rough times. You need not look any further than Julie Collins, the proud owner of last season’s champion Illinois bred 2-year-old filly pacer Fox Valley Kia, as a spot-on example.

Growing up as a teenager in Highland, Ind., about 20 miles from Balmoral Park, Collins would go with her dad to the far south Chicagoland racetrack to watch the horses race. As the years went by her love for horses only grew and her hope one day was to have her own horse.

However, as the years rolled by it appeared her fondest wish wasn’t meant to be.

She got married, raised four children as a single parent (one who overcame Leukemia), and she became a nurse, and not just any nurse but a traveling Covid nurse through the peak pandemic years.

Fox Valley Kia shows her winning form in last year’s $185,000 Incredible Tillie 2-year-old championship at Hawthorne. Four Footed Foto photo.

Collins was in New Orleans when the pandemic was at its deadliest height there. Also, she made work stops in other states at the pinnacle of the lethal virus, sometimes wondering if she would ever come back home. All the while her “horse owning dream” was still in the back of her mind.

When the pandemic finally eased, Collins returned home and got reacquainted with Illinois horseman Phil Knox, who she dated a few years earlier.

She felt she earned enough money to give horse ownership a shot and her boyfriend and trainer Knox picked out two yearlings at the 2021 horse sales, each for $7,500 — Buck Art, a Pennsylvania bred colt, at the Blooded Horse Sale in Ohio, and a week later the same amount at the Walker Standardbred Sale in Sherman, Ill., for the filly Fox Valley Kia.

Buck Art did okay, making almost $12,000 as a freshman, while on the other hand Collins hit the jackpot with filly Fox Valley Kia who raked-in $131,052 in her first 13 trips to the gate and came away with the richest prize of her division on Hawthorne’s Night of Champions with a victory in the $185,000 Incredible Tillie final.

“It was thrilling to watch her win the championship,” said Collins. “It was also a little terrifying. I worried about the filly, about Phil, and what would happen in the race.”

And she realized there’s “so much money at stake.”

An admitted novice of our sport as a new horse owner, Collins has taken a year’s sabbatical from nursing and has been helping Knox with the horses (she bought two more yearlings last fall. Collins acknowledges she has a ferocious appetite to read “everything I can about harness racing.”

Being a horse owner also gave her a fresh perspective of the Standardbred industry.

“I never knew there were so many wonderful people that were there for a newcomer like me,” she said. “When I became a horse owner all my friends were nurses. Now I also have lots of great horse friends.”

“Tom and Benita Simmons have been especially great,” said Knox. “They’ve helped us so much, always there if we needed something.”

Fox Valley Kia’s road to her first season success didn’t start out auspiciously. The filly was disqualified from second to fourth debuting at the Carrollton Fair with Knox. She did win a modest $714 pot in her second outing, and was third best the next time out, both at Springfield.

Fox Valley Kia’s first pari-mutuel start came at Hawthorne in late July where she managed a $600 check with a fifth-place finish. A week later the freshman pacer won at the Urbana fair. The filly started to show she had untapped ability when she prevailed in the Hawthorne $12,000 summer Incredible Tillie Consolation.

Another win at Mount Sterling had the Somestarsomewhere filly primed for the Illinois State Fair at Springfield as Scott Nance took over as the listed trainer while Knox was serving a suspension by California stewards for a non-serious infraction.

It was at Springfield where the filly showed she was indeed a major force in her division. The filly won her Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes elimination and made it five straight triumphs with a season’s best 1:51.2 mile in the $30,000 final, both with Cordarius Stewart in the sulky.

A strong second place effort followed in the $50,000 Lt. Governor’s Cup at the Du Quoin State Fair and had her ready for a shot at Hawthorne’s $185,000 Night of Champions Incredible Tillie. The talented filly advanced to the championship with a second-place finish in her elimination, this time with Kyle Wilfong at her lines. Wilfong took her right to the front in the championship where she led at every pole with a 1:51.4 clocking to the delight of Collins and Knox.

Fox Valley Kia’s first outing as a 3-year-old will come on June 7 in the Downstate Classic at Decatur. A week later she’ll race in the 3-year-old Violet pace at Springfield.

Illinois Champ About Ready: Three-time Illinois Harness Horse of the Year Fox Valley Gemini is qualifying Thursday (May 11) at the Fairgrounds in Springfield for his initial pari-mutuel start as an 8-year-old. The Terry Leonard trained pacer has 53 career wins and earnings just under $697,000 for Atwater, Ill., owner Jim Ballinger.