Hinsdale, IL — While not done in a deliberate fashion, Thursday’s (Aug. 17) Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes program of 18 separate champions on a single day is most likely the most in the long history of the Illinois State Fair.

The culprit for the two-day much shortened meeting has been the rainy weather that plagued the Springfield, Ill., area for the past week, making the Fairgrounds racetrack unsuitable for racing.

However, sunny skies and a dry racing surface are upon us making for an exciting day of harness racing with three-dozen inviting pots on the line starting at 10 a.m. (CDT) with the strongest of the four $17,250 2-year-old ISFCS state-bred pacing filly events.

The nine-horse field is headed by the Kevin Miller stable’s Fox Valley Tasha (Cordarius Stewart) with four wins in her last six starts including a 1:55.1 clocking three weeks ago before the rains came that cancelled last week’s schedule ISFCS eliminations.

Fox Valley Tasha, a daughter of Time To Roll, didn’t fare well by drawing the eight-slot. However, one of her strongest challengers Stevie Mae (Travis Seekman), a 1:56.2 winner in her last, didn’t fare much better, landing the seven-post.

The possible post time favorite could be Sleazy Sister, from the barn of trainer Gary Rath, who is two-for-two in her brief career, the latest in 1:55.4. She has the five-slot for driver Casey Leonard.

Three other $17,500 finals for the first season gals are also on the line Thursday.

Strumming Along: The early leader in the ICF freshman colt grouping is the Rob Rittof stable’s Guitar Man (Kyle Husted) who will be a heavy favorite in the second race first of three division finals.

The Somestarsomewhere colt posted a 1:52 victory a couple of weeks ago and drew off by almost a dozen lengths. Earlier he had a :26.2 last quarter in one of his other two season triumphs.

About four hours after the first race is the single division battle for the 3-year-old colt or gelding supremacy that currently belongs to the streaking Fox Valley Landen (Kyle Husted) from the barn of trainer Amy Husted.

The 18th and final race on the card will offer a $41,000 pot and you can expect Fox Valley Landen to get plenty of play in it after five consecutive victories and two in a quick 1:50.

Fox Valley Landen raced first over in his last and still was four lengths the best under a hold. And the Somestarsomewhere offspring starts from the inside two-post in a race with two trailers: Fox Valley Presley (post 10, Phil Knox) and Fox Valley Cayman (post 11, Jamaica Patton).

Shark Solicitor has the rail while posts three through nine belong to Fox Valley Patriot (Wyatt Avenatti), Kage Daniel (Juan Franco), Isle Coach (Jordon Patton), Fox Valley Steeler (Casey Leonard), Unhynged Speed (Matt Avenatti), Ghost Shark (Travis Seekman) and Fox Valley Jasper (Cordarius Stewart).

The present leader in the state-bred sophomore filly division is Fox Valley Leah (Cordarius Stewart) from the Midwest division of the Erv Miller Stable and she’s in a sweet spot with the pole position in her $23,500 final, one race earlier.

Another offspring of Sometarsomewhere, Fox Valley Leah beings a five-race victory streak into the 17th race contest where she’ll take on (from post two out) Fox Valley Kia (Phil Knox), Fox Valley Cha Cha (Jordan Patton), Some Dancing Star (Matt Avenatti), Fillys Revenge (Juan Franco), Golden Fort (Kyle Wilfong) and Rona Mae (Travis Seekman).

Some much-anticipated matchups between 3-year-old colt trotting rivals Goomster (Travis Seekman, race nine) and Niko Man (Codarius Stewart, race 16) along with sophomore filly trot adversaries Marvelous Mystery (Kyle Wilfong, race 10) and Radiant Diamond (Travis Seekman, race 15) will have to wait until the Du Quoin State Fair meet that gets underway in two weeks since they all drew into different championship divisions today.

No Surprises: There was no catching former Illinois Horse of the Year He’zzz A Wise Sky in Wedneday’s ISFCS older male pace championship.

Nicely rated by Kyle Wilfong, the heavy 1-9 favorite and John Filomeno trainee sped to a 1:49.1 clocking, 3-1/2 lengths the best over runner-up Fox Valley Gemini (Casey Leonard). The 6-year-old homebred winner is owned by Triple ZZZ stable.

One race later, the 1-9 public’s choice Talk About Valor was much the best in the older male trotting championship for owner Shelley Steele, trainer Gerald Hansen, and regular driver Travis Seekman. The 8-year-old Yankee Valor gelding pulled away to a 6-3/4 length romp in 1:53.2. Lousdobb (Casey Leonard) was second best.

A 1-2 prohibitive favorite, Fox Valley Exploit (Kyle Husted) needed a new lifetime mark of 1:50.4 to gain a nose victory over stablemate Dandy’s MNM (Casey Leonard) in the older mare pace showdown. The 6-year-old Sportsmaster mare came from third at the 1:23.1 third quarter to get up in the final strides for owners David Brigham and Kyle Husted. It was Fox Valley Exploit’s 34th lifetime win.

Illinois long-time trotting queen Annas Lucky Star, owned and bred by Danny Graham, turned the tables on last year’s ISFCS older trotting mare Reign And Shine (Jamaica Patton) with a 1:56 mile in Wednesday’s rematch. Given a very favorable second over trip by regular driver Kyle Wilfong, the Nelson Willis trained mare followed up Reign And Shine and won a Illinois State Fair championship for a record seventh time in her illustrious career.

Casey Leonard and Cordarius Stewart topped all drivers with five winners each Wednesday afternoon. Travis Seekman, Kyle Husted and Kyle Wilfong all made three winner’s circle stops. Roshun Trigg had a training triple.