Stickney, IL — The last of the year’s Illinois Conceived and Foaled (ICF) stakes will be presented this weekend at Hawthorne with the Cardinal Stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings in the spotlight on Saturday night (Nov. 23) and freshman fillies taking over the limelight on Sunday evening (Nov. 24) with the Violet Stakes.
The Cardinal pace will be raced in two divisions with each split having a prohibitive early favorite.
The $59,697 first division of the Cardinal, carded as the fourth race, is headed by Dialogue (driven by Kyle Wilfong) from the barn of Kim Roth. The Captain Terror gelding dropped a head decision to division leader Cash Money Twenty on Night of Champions with a gallant effort. Dialogue was parked out two turns and still paced a :26.3 final quarter in the 1:52 mile. The youngster has made 10 trips to the gate for owner-breeder Bart Seales and has four wins, three seconds and and third and over $109,000 on his card.
His chief rivals Saturday night are the Erv Miller stable’s Fox Valley Pepper (Marcus Miller), a two-time season winner with $35,927 earned, and Dandy’s Freedom, trained by Terry Leonard, who has been first or second in five of his seven lifetime starts and over $38,000 in purse money.
Western Trevor (Juan Franco), Bull Market (Watt Avenatti), Major Trip (Kyle Husted) and One Tuff Customer (Brandon Bates) complete the field.
Cash Money Twenty will put his six-race winning streak on the line when he sprints out from post six in the $51,097 second Cardinal division with part-owner Casey Leonard in the sulky.
The Stevensville gelding came from almost eight lengths behind at the three-quarter pole in the Incredible Final championship to overtake Dialogue in the final strides, delivering a wicked :26.1 final panel, making him one-for-one for Leonard and 10 out of 11 for Heart & Soul Stable with $186,430 earned.
The Hart Walker stable’s Battlin Bob (Travis Seekman), who owns the only victory over Cash Money Twenty, starts to the left of the 2-year-old kingpin and opens at 9-2.
Looking for a major upset are Hello Trevor (Marcus Miller), Fox Valley Boxer (Travis Seekman), Tonto Returns (Wyatt Avenatti), RKs Captain (Matt Avenatti), Jimmy D Shark (Juan Franco) and Fox Valley Stoli (Kyle Husted).
The Cardinal trot will go as one eight-horse field, carded as race five, with a $95,293 purse on the line. The morning line shows the Erv Miller Stable’s Louise Legacy at 3-2, followed by his main rival Sunburnt Silverado (Casey Leonard), from the barn of Curt Grummel, at 3-1. In head-to-head competition this season, Louise’s Legacy leads, 4-3.
Louise’s Legacy landed post five and Sunburnt Silverado drew the six. The first four posts belong to Frontier Macho (Todd Warren), Lou Beduino (Chris Brown), Ally’s Got Grit (Kyle Wilfong) and Mustang Danny (Kyle Husted). The outside posts are manned by Shady Maple Becker (Wyatt Avenatti) and Call Me Maevey (Travis Seekman).