| Executive Director Email Tony S. Membership/Questions Email Noel A. Insurance Questions Email Marlene R. |
|
|
|
|
|
15 Spinning Wheel Road, Suite 432 • Hinsdale, IL 60521 |
|
Quite a Difference (08/16/10)Posted Monday, August 16, 2010 By Mike Paradise Harness racing resumes Monday afternoon at the Springfield State Fair and the race with the best storyline has to be the Illinois State Fair Stakes Filly and Mare Trot for four-year-olds and up with six distaffers competing for a reduced $8,000 pot this year. I don’t ever remember an event where there’s ever been such a difference in age and in experience among some of the drivers. The stake is headed up by Brett Wilfong’s talented mare Speed N The Tunnel who has raked in over $60,000 competing this season in Indiana Invites and Opens and the Robert Taylor Stable’s Miss Vicki, a 1:55.2 victor two starts ago at Balmoral who last summer as a three-year-old captured Springfield’s $50,000 Championship and Balmoral’s $115,000 Lady Ann Reed Super Night crown. They’ll be tested by the trotters Southern Victoriak (Hans Schulfer), Sprinklesdonut (Dale Bartley), Winsome Wyoming (Leo Burns) and Lil Miss Angel (Freddie Patton Jr.). The 3-1 programmed favorite Speed N The Tunnel will be guided by Kyle Wilfong of Donovan Illinois, who celebrated his19th birthday less than two months ago (June 24). The six-year-old year trotting mare Winsome Wyoming (6-1) is owned, trained and driven by 95-year-old Leo Burns of Albion, Illinois. The difference in ages between these two is 76 years. Kyle is in his first year as a professional driver. He has 13 career victories and 12 have come in non-wagering amateur or fair races. Kyle won his first pari-mutuel race just eight days ago at Balmoral with Littlediddheknow at whopping 66-1 odds. The young man is competing against Miss Vicki (4-1) and her National Hall Of Fame driver Dave Magee. The 56-year-old Green Bay, WI native had already driven 4,500 pari-mutuel winners before Kyle was born. And Dave has won a whole lot since. He’s at 11,236 going into Monday’s card. Review Entries are Woeful: Monday afternoon’s Springfield card has a quartet of open company Review stakes however a meager number of horses were entered and these once proud added money events in two cases have been reduced to non-wagering match races. We all knew that the entries would be sparse for these stakes. After all, some horsemen had to wait almost a year to get their money from the state from 2009 events. Also Illinois severe budget problems necessitated substantial cuts in all the State Fair purses, and for that matter it wasn’t that many months ago that we knew for sure we would even be racing at Springfield, let only with pari-mutuel betting (that wasn’t a certainty until a few weeks ago. So it’s not a total shock that the $15,000stake for three-year-old trotting fillies has the most starters of any of Monday’s Review’s and it came up with only four horses—Escrow Blue Chip, Vitamin M, Riley Lynn and Pure Platinum and there’s no Show wagering. The $20,000 Little Pat Review landed just three freshman male pacers—Ideal Joe, Onhishonor Hanover and Gregorian Law with Win and Exacta betting only. And two other Reviews—the $15,000 two-year-old filly pace and the $20,000 Alexander Memorial for three-year-old colt trotters—are non-betting match races before the regular 10-race card. The Tom Simmons Stable’s Kayay Digidiay takes on the Christine Buttice Stable’s Rock Me Santilli in the filly event, slated at 11:30 am and 10 minutes later Brett Wilfong’s Premier Hanover will go head-to-head against Todd La Fountaine’s Ilikeyoualatte in the Alexander. The wagering card begins shortly thereafter at 12 noon. To view Archived Notes and Quotes click here.
|
 Notes and Quotes
|
