by Tom Kelley, publicity director, Balmoral Park

Crete, IL — Illinois conceived and foaled pacers and trotters shared the spotlight on a busy weekend of racing action at Balmoral Park as a pair of stakes events provided plenty of thrills.

Trotters headlined the Sunday (May 3) card as a field of eight 3-year-old state-bred fillies battled it out in the $15,000 Koochie Stake.

Fresh off an impressive win in her seasonal debut, Paula Smith and James Runyan’s Fox Valley Lover trotted to her second straight stakes victory, reporting home with a two length verdict in 1:58.2.

Unhurried in the early stages driver Dale Hiteman settled his filly in fourth as Tropical Caprice (Dave Magee) led the field through an opening quarter in :28.4. Hiteman then maneuvered his charge to the outside as the field headed up the backstretch. Quickly picking off horses the daughter of Vaporize-Love You More grabbed command as the field reached the half-mile mark in :59.

The issue was never really in doubt from that point on as Fox Valley Lover opened up a 1-1/2 length lead over her rivals while cruising by the three-quarter-mile mark in 1:29.3. Holding firm through the lane the Joel Smith trainee easily kept the ground saving Fox Valley Strata (Tyler Buter) and Tropical Caprice at bay as she trotted to her seventh career win in 16 lifetime starts. Fox Valley Strata was second while Tropical Caprice was third.

The winner’s check of $7,500 helped push this good looking filly’s career bankroll up to $101,723.

Balmoral Park photo

Special Joe held off the late charge of Well To Do Guru to win Saturday’s $20,000 Rambling Willie Stake in 1:51.1.

Some of Illinois’ best older pacers stepped onto the track on Saturday, May 2, as a field of 10 went postward in the $20,000 Rambling Willie Stake. When the smoke cleared from this heated battle it was the Gary Kreisher owned and trained Special Joe who emerged with a hard fought head decision in a career best of 1:51.1.

Given a perfect steer by catch driver Josh Sutton the 4-year-old son of Jody’s Cam-Specially Fine was kept well off a hot opening quarter of :27 that was being set by the highly regarded Booze Cruzin. Getting underway from sixth as the outer flow started to develop on the backstretch, Sutton had his charge in a perfect second over position following the cover of Fox Valley Gambler (Tyler Buter), as Booze Cruzin continued to lead the field by the halfway mark in :55.2.

Drawing closer as the field began to bunch up heading to the top of the stretch Sutton tipped Special Joe three-wide as Booze Cruzin and Fox Valley Gambler battled neck and neck by the three-quarter pole in 1:24. Quickly swallowing up the top pair Special Joe seized command with an eighth of a mile to go. His work was far from over though as last week’s Free For All winner Well To Do Guru (Casey Leonard) began to unleash his powerful closing burst.

Despite being last at the top of the lane Well To Do Guru began to pick off horses one by one. Moving like a freight train Well To Do Guru reeled off a wicked :25.3 final quarter only to come up a step short as a game Special Joe held on for the victory. Fox Valley Gambler was third, 5-1/4 lengths behind the top pair.

With the win Special Joe boasts a record of 4-4-1 in 13 starts this season with earnings of $48,291.

Balmoral Park will begin its summer racing schedule this Tuesday, May 5. The Crete plant will now host live racing four nights a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday) until Oct. 31. Post time is 7:20 p.m. (central) each night except Sunday when the action gets underway at 6:30 p.m.

There will also be a High 5 carryover pool of $10,906 on Tuesday’s card. Balmoral Park is estimating Tuesday’s pool to be around $40,000 for the 10 cent wager which takes place on the 10th race each night.