Stickney, IL — In past years, it was common to see horses that began to tower above others in Hawthorne’s Open Pace trigger the race office to take steps to make the top overnight event more competitive.
After two consecutive Open victories, a horse was assigned the outside post. A third win resulted in more drastic steps taken, such as giving that horse the 10-hole even if that field had only seven or eight horses, or sometimes just offering an Open 2 event that weekend, writing out the dominating horse.
However, this year, the race office hasn’t had to generate tactics it likely doesn’t want to make for a competitive Open on the card. A repeat winner this season in the Open has taken place less often as the Chicago Bears winning two in a row … it hasn’t happened.
In fact, in the first 10 Opens at the meet, only one horse, Great Seats, has won the top Hawthorne overnight event twice, and that came about weeks apart. There have been eight different winners of the Open, and a ninth is very possible Saturday night (Dec. 21).
The Triple ZZZ Stable’s He’zzz A Wise Sky (Kyle Wilfong) will open as the 3-1 favorite in Saturday’s headliner, carded as the fifth race, and the Illinois champion has yet to pop at the current winter meet since he was put on Lasix last month.
In his last two starts, the pride of the John Filomeno stable has been overtaken in the late going after leading the field for much of his races. The homebred did come home in :26.3 last week, but 17-1 long shot Away We Go A finished in :26 to power past the favorite.
One thing that has been noticeable in He’zzz A Wise Sky’s last couple of outings: His second-quarter times were much slower than normal for him, and the horses behind him didn’t have as much ground to make up. Perhaps the sub-freezing weather and windy conditions might have something to do with the ICF champ’s recent slower half-mile times of :57.
On Saturday, He’zzz A Wise Sky takes on Round Here Buzz (Cordarius Stewart), Play Me Rock (Juan Franco), Fox Valley Landen (Kyle Husted), Truffle Dog (Mike Oosting), Hello Sweetie Boy (Travis Seekman), Intimidation (Todd Warren), Away We Go A (Wyatt Avenatti) and Quixote (Casey Leonard).
Besides He’zzz A Wise Sky, the only other horses in the feature without an Open triumph at the current Hawthorne winter meet are Play Me Rock, who won the event three times in 2023; and Hello Sweetie Boy, who has spent the year racing in Indiana and Ohio and has made only one local start. The Kimberly Roth pacer did notch a Hawthorne Open victory last season.