by Tom Kelley, for Hawthorne Racecourse

Stickney, IL — Neither rain, nor snow, nor sub-zero wind chills could stop the return of live harness racing to Hawthorne Race Course as the “Stickney Spa” enjoyed a very successful opening weekend for its first Standardbred meet in nearly 10 years.

With a nice crowd on hand braving day long rain and sleet to witness the live racing card and all the on track festivities on Friday (Jan 8), Casey Leonard, last season’s driving kingpin on the Chicago circuit, put on quite a show as he bagged four straight wins to open the 2016 season.

Leonard would pick up another victory behind Hudson Jesse in the featured seventh race to wind up with a five-bagger on the night.

On Saturday night (Jan. 9) local fans had a good look at some of the top stables that have decided to call Hawthorne home for this winter meet as such national powerhouses like Rene Allard, Ron Burke and Ken Rucker all sent out winners on the 10-race card.

Hawthorne photo

Ontario Success was a 1:53.4 winner in the Open Pace.

The Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi’s Ontario Success turned in the most impressive score of the night as he scooted to a front stepping victory in the featured Open Pace, tripping the timer in 1:53.4 for driver Sam Widger on a sloppy track after heavy snow fell throughout the late afternoon and evening hours.

Casey Leonard continued to weave his magic as well, piloting three more winners on the Saturday program. The up and coming Travis Seekman also had a driving double on Saturday which included the longest price of the weekend as he lit up the board at $75.40 with the Rucker trained Winning Dream in race four.

As if Mother Nature had not played enough tricks on the Chicago area, an arctic blast rolled through on Sunday (Jan. 10), plunging temperatures into the single digits. Once again the fabulous work of the track crew had the surface in tip top shape and driver Robert Smolin started out red-hot as he notched both ends of the early daily double and wound up with a driving triple for the night.

Simon Allard began to familiarize himself with the Hawthorne winner’s circle with a driving double as did Kyle Wilfong. Leonard posted another victory as well, giving him a total of nine wins on opening weekend

The support shown by the horsemen who dropped nearly 500 entries in the box for the opening weekend helped contribute to a 20 percent increase in the anticipated handle at Hawthorne despite the rough weather conditions.

For those carryover seekers, the Jackpot High 5, which is a 20-cent wager, will have a carryover of more than $14,000 as week two of the meet gets started.

Live racing resumes on Wednesday (Jan. 13) with first post for the 10-race card at 7:20 p.m. (CST). Qualifiers will be held prior to the live card on Wednesday night with that action getting started at 6 p.m. (CST). Racing will be conducted on a Wednesday thru Sunday schedule until Saturday (Feb. 6). Post time is 7:20 p.m. (CST).