Hinsdale, IL — Illinois Harness Racing Hall of Fame trainer Jim Eaton will double-up on his chances to have a winning horse in Monday’s (Jan. 1) featured $11,100 Open Trot at Hawthorne.

Perlucky looks for his third Open Trot victory at Hawthorne in Monday’s feature race. Four Footed Fotos.

A good portion of the public’s wagering money will go to Eaton’ s ultra-consistent trotter Perlucky, who was a steady-money maker all last season ($109,508) and at Hawthorne has been no worse than third in seven starts, winning twice and was the runner-up on four occasions.

Eaton will also send out the 4-year-old trotter Calderone, a recent addition to his stable. Eaton’s long-time owner Robert Silberberg dished out $85,000 at a recent sale to purchase the well-regarded trotter who didn’t fare well in his initial Hawthorne start, finishing a far-back fifth a couple of weeks ago. However, there was a reason for the trotter’s disappointing Hawthorne debut.

“He was too aggressive,” revealed Eaton. “He broke his choke plate in half when making a big move on the backside and was done before the last quarter of the mile.”

Calderone went from sixth to third in the second quarter but pushed himself so hard and had nothing left for the stretch drive.

“Calderone has plenty of talent, but I have my work cut out to curb his aggressiveness,” continued Eaton. “He’s a completely different horse off the racetrack. He’s gentle as can be. He’s a wonderful horse to be around but that all changes on the racetrack. He wants to beat those other horses, but he’ll have to be less aggressive to do it.”

Unraced as a 2-year-old, the Chapter Seven prodigy won seven races in his first campaign, including a division of the Simpson Stake, while banking nearly $80,000 before being bought by Silberberg, also the proprietor of Perlucky.

The two Eaton trained trotters will start at opposite ends of the starting gate. The draw was by groups, one through four and five through eight and it went well for Calderone (Kyle Wilfong) who landed the pole position and not so much for Perlucky (Casey Leonard). He will leave from the outside eight slot.

In between you’ll find Never Mind N (Todd Warren), Reign And Shine (Wyatt Avenatti), Maple Grove Mangin (Brandon Bates), Annas Lucky Star (Mike Oosting), Talk About Valor (Travis Seekman) and Rockyroad Aldo (Bobby Smolin), in that order.

A victory for Perlucky would be the Lucky Chuck gelding’s 40th in seven-plus seasons of racing. His career earnings of $727,116 are tops in the eight-horse field. Illinois long time trotting queen Annas Lucky Star is next with $685,251 amassed for owner and breeder Danny Graham. The Cassis mare’s 63 lifetime wins are far and away the most in the field.

The now 9-year-old Talk About Valor will be making his first start for trainer Gerald Hansen since the first week of November. The Yankee Valor gelding earned another $60,000-plus for owner Shelley Steele in 2023 after back-to-back seasons as the Illinois Older Male Trotter of the Year.