Stickney, IL — It’s leg two of three rounds of Hawthorne’s Pop-Up Series for ICF two-year-olds after last weekend’s first leg turned out to be the Travis Seekman show.

Change The Tune (Travis Seekman) goes for another win in Saturday’s Pop-Up Series at Hawthorne. Hawthorne Photo.

The 33-year-old Michigan native drove three of the four division winners and will be back in the bike on the youngsters, the trotter Change The Tune and the pacer Super Shark Saturday (November 11) night. Travis will guide the third, the filly Adalecia, tomorrow evening.

Change The Tune pulled off at upset in the single leg of the Pop-Up for state-bred freshman trotters, storming down the stretch at 10-1 odds for her maiden victory after continuous breaks often kept the Linda’s Tru Grit off the board in her first seven career starts.

The 2:00.4 winning mile came when trainer Gerald Hanson put Change The Tune on trotting hobbles for the first time.

“That’s the reason for her turnaround,” said Travis. “I’ve been lobbying for hobbles on her since the summer. The filly has enough speed, but she was over trotting herself and going off stride. That wasn’t the case last week.”

Change The Tune, owned by Illinoisians Shelly Steele (Monee), Zacharski (Tinley Park) and the Sam Lilly Racing Stable (Downers Grove), overlook the 4-5 favorite Lous Amazon (Casey Leonard) in the late going after the Steve Searle filly had to work a but too hard to make the front and then went on to a 57.2 first half.

Lous Amazon only trotted a 31.1 last quarter in her less than one length loss.

New to the second leg series is Honoloulou (Cordarius Stewart), also from the barn of Steve Searle. The filly got last week off after three consecutive weeks of racing that included an easy 2:00.1 triumph in the $25,000 Fox Valley Flan Consolation on October 15th.

Back for another try in the series is Lous Gambler (Clark Fairley), Gritty Gator (Robert Smolin), Moppies Mooss (Gary Rath), Lous Enchantress (Todd Warren) and Ally Baba (Brandon Bates).

While Change The Tune series win was a surprise to many, Super Shark comfortable victory in a division of the Pop-Up for Illinois bred male pacers wasn’t. The Nick Prather trained gelding went off at 40 cents to the dollar.

“Super Sharp is a real good fit in the series,” said Seekman. “He’s a small horse but he does everything right. He tries hard and always gives his best. And he’s from a good family.”

Sired by Revenge Shark, Super Shark sold for $7,000 to George Pollock (Rushville, IL) at the 2021 Illini Classic Sale. He’s out of the Park Place broodmare Parkontheroad, making him a half-brother to such successful Illinois horses as Dakota Roadster (1:51, $403,202), Double Parked (1:50.1) and Bombay Parkway (1:53.1).

Seekman has driven Super Shark on five occasions and the gelding has responded with four victories and a second.

Super Shark has the outside six-slot in the second race tonight with Hezarengade (Juan Franco), Fox Valley Bruin (Todd Warren), Gotta Go Gram (Matt Avenatti), Almost Gone (Casey Leonard) and Fox Valley Carlos (Kyle Husted) manning posts one through five, in that order.

Cruising Along: The lightly raced freshman Doctor Cruise looks like an even-money favorite, or lower, in the fourth race second division after an easy win in his first leg for driver Kyle Husted.

The Somestarsomewhere gelding was sent off at 1-2 odds a week ago for the Husted Stable and didn’t disappoint with a 1:56 victory. Mazin Blazin (Casey Leonard), second best to Doctor Cruise finished strong and should get good play as well.

The second Pop-Up split also brings out Ashlees Silver Guy (Brandon Bates), Downtownleroybrown (Travis Seekman), My Buddy Steve (Cordarius Stewart) and Who’zzz This Sly (Wyatt Avenatti)