Stickney, IL — When Illinois champion He’zzz A Wise Sky was passed in the lane in last week’s local Open Pace by Perry Smith’s Town Gossip, it surprised most followers of Illinois racing.

Town Gossip (Casey Leonard) was the unexpected winner of last week’s Open Pace at Hawthorne. Four Footed Fotos..

The pride of the John Filomeno stable had easily won his previous four Hawthorne Opens and had little trouble getting to his usual front-end position. After soft fractions, 1:29.2 first quarter and a :58.1 first half, He’zzz A Wise Sky, as usual went to a quicker third quarter (:28.2) and looked like a shoo-in to make it five in a row.

However, the pocket horse Town Gossip, aptly handled by Casey Leonard, powered past the 1-9 betting choice, and drew off by four lengths much to the chagrin of “chalk players.”

Was it the strong cold wind coming down the stretch that aided the upset?  Was it the less than desirable track conditions? Was the Illinois champ feeling under the weather? Was Town Gossip just the better horse last Sunday evening? Was it a combination of things?

Town Gossip trainer and owner Perry Smith wasn’t sure just why his pacer got the better of He’zzz A Wise Sky in the Open slugfest, but he’s definitely happy he did.

“Town Gossip is a nice horse, but he doesn’t always show up with a big effort in a race,” said Perry. “He did last week, and Casey (Leonard) gave him a great drive.

“It was a tough night for racing. The track was icy underneath in spots and some horses had trouble getting a hold of it. Also, that was a strong wind out here. Not many horses went wire-to-wire on the night.”

Perry was correct, only one horse, Real Slick Chic, won last Sunday by leading at every pole of the 12-race card.

The entire field in last week’s Open, plus two-time Open winner at the meet Play Me Rock, are back to slug it out—Round Here Buzz (Mike Oosting), the third-place finisher for Perry Smith, along with Macdavid (Todd Warren), Mr Charisa (Brandon Bates), Town Gossip (Casey Leonard) and He’zzz A Wise Sky, allocated the outside six post with his regular driver Kyle Wilfong.

The return appearance of Play Me Rock (Mike Oosting) in the Open, gives Perry three of the six starters in the race that he trains and owns.

Many supporters of Illinois racing likely never heard of Town Gossip until Perry brought his stable of horses back to his home state to compete.

Nevertheless, Town Gossip has the credentials to be a major player in Illinois Opens.

“I claimed him for $50,000 at Hoosier last year,” said Perry. The horse had over $500,000 on his card in less than five years of racing and he was beating $40,000 to $50,000 claimers so I took a chance on him.”

The majority of Town Gossip’s earnings came from his time in the New York Sire Stakes as a youngster. A $25,000 yearling buy, the American Ideal gelding made over $155,000 in his first season.

As a 3-year-old Town Gossip went post ward 17 times and hauled in almost $270,000 and took his mark of 1:49.2 at Harrah’s Philadelphia for trainer Jennifer Bongiorno. The horse won a $77,300 NYSS at Saratoga and a $55,000 NYSS at Batavia. He captured a $104,000 state bred stake at Tioga Downs, a $35,800 division of the Simpson at Philadelphia and was second in the $200,000 New York Sire Stake Final at Yonkers. He also made the 2021 Little Brown Jug final after finishing second in his elimination.

Town Gossip banked just under $80,000 as a 4-year-old while racing in high-end conditioned events at Pocono, Yonkers, the Meadowlands and Philadelphia.

The horse was sent to Indiana under the care of trainer Tyler George for his 5-year-old campaign and was claimed by Perry in his fourth start at Hoosier Park. Since then he’s collected over $66,000 for Perry.