Hinsdale, IL — It’s not often that Illinois harness racing followers get to see three Opens on the same card but that’s the scenario Sunday (Oct. 22) night at Hawthorne.

Tell The Dream (Cordarius Stewart) and Rock It Out (Casey Leonard) will square off again in Sunday night’s Open pace for fillies and mares. Four Footed Fotos.

The $11,100 co-features will go in consecutive races, the sixth, seven, and eighth, with the latter for male pacers likely to garner the most attention with seven talented horses doing their best to catch the speedy Illinois champion He’zzz A Wise Sky (Kyle Wilfong), saddled with the outside (eight) post just has he was in his first two unsuccessful Hawthorne starts.

The homebred six-year-old Yankee Skyscraper pacer is the 2-1 morning line favorite and deservedly so. Unlike in his first two Hawthorne losses, He’zzz A Wise Sky is much sharper now than he was earlier. He was tons the best in the Robert S. Molaro Memorial prep and final with a 1:49.2 romp, and then breezing in 1:50 flat in the final on the Night of Champions.

It’s no secret what as to the racing strategy of his regular driver Kyle Wilfong: “It’s catch me if you can.” In 43 of He’zzz QA Wise Sky’s 94 career starts, they haven’t. The gifted state-bred pacer has made over $630,000 in four and one-half seasons for his Beecher, Illinois owners Triple ZZZ stable.

His trainer John Filomeno has often said that He’zzz A Wise Sky races more relaxed on the front end and that’s why he’s raced there.

Of course, his opposition knows the horse’s tactics, too and will try to push the likely favorite hard in the early going with perhaps a pocket-trip in mind, with the hopes of out-close the Illinois standout on Hawthorne’s very long (1,320 feet) stretch.

It’ll be interesting to see what horse will grab the two-hole. It was Get E Up (Kyle Husted) in the Molero final when he was second best. Then there’s the David Brooks trained longshot Clearchoice De Vie, a newcomer to the local Open ranks, who has sprinted out in every one of his Hawthorne season starts.

Your author believes it will be the Hoosier Park invader Ilikemebettor A, who will leave from the six-slot with Cordarious Stewart. The Erv Miller trained seven-year-old likes to race up close, and in his last five starts either in Indiana or Ohio, the first quarter times in his races have been in 26.2, 26 flat, 25.2, 26.2, and 25.4.

Ilikemebettor took his lifetime mark of 1:48.2 at Hoosier in early Augusti with a two-hole journey, thanks to a 25.1 first quarter and a 26.3 last panel.

Playmerock (Travis Seekman) will also get plenty of play after winning the first two Hawthorne season Opens and beating He’zzz A Wise Sky in both. Playmerock has enjoyed a three-week hiatus since. The Perry Smith trainee was assigned to the seven-slot Sunday night.

The field is rounded out with Great Seats (Wyatt Avenatti), Trey Rockette (Casey Leonard) and Fox Valley Ozzy (Gary Rath).

The Open for pacing fillies and mares and the Open trot precede the horse and gelding with post positions in all drawn by groups.

No Clear Choices: The sixth race distaff Open brought out Merv Chupp’s Tell The Dream (p.p. 8, Cordarous Stewart), a two-time Open winner at the meet, and Donna Holt’s Rock It Out (p.p. 7, Casey Leonard) who won the gals feature three weeks ago.

They’ll vie for favoritism with Kim Roth’s Wild Rose (p.p. 5, Kyle Husted), who has missed only one purse check in her last 20 starts while racing at Hoosier Park, often in Opens. Skeeter Machine (Travis Seekman), Bombay Parkway (Brandon Bates), Dandy’s MNM (Richard S. Finn), Lorraine Smoke (Kyle Husted) and Graceful Horizon (Todd Warren) complete field.

The seventh race Open trot lured a field of seven and while the programmed morning line lists Louscardamon (Kyle Wilfong) as the 2-1 early favorite, expect the outside trotter, Perlucky (Casey Leonard) to get the bulk of the public’s wagering money.

The eight-year-old Perlucky has made close to $90,000 this year compared to $5,128 for the Illinois bred Louscardamon. The Jim Eaton trainee has amassed more than a half-million dollars in career earnings more than the seven-year-old Curt Grummel trained gelding and has a mark of two seconds faster as well.

The competitive field also brings out Wilamar Spark (Cordarius Stewart), Heath Bar (Jack Killeen), Chiplosive (Travis Seekman), Scorecard Dan (Brandon Bates) and the Todd Warren stable’s Jack Vernon (Todd Warren) still going strong at the age of 10.