Regular driver Travis Seekman will guide Battlin Bob in Friday’s first division of the $33,165 Cardinal stake at Springfield. (Terry Young Photo)

By Mike Paradise for the I.H.A.A.

 Hawthorne’s harness racing meet at Springfield opens with a delayed bang Friday with a bevy of stake events for ICF 3-year-old trotters and pacers of both sexes. The Violet and Cardinal pacing events were split with the abundance of entries for the first major added event for state-bred horses.

  The Cardinal pace for sophomore colts and geldings lured 24 ries, necessitating three divisions with a $33,165 purse on each. Likewise, the Violet for state-bred filly pacers saw 22 three-year-olds pass the entry box, again requiring a trio of $33431 stake divisions.

 The Cardinal and Violet trots each landed 16 horses and will be contested in a pair of $47,747 divisions each.

 All of the “big names” in the 3-year-old male pacing division will be in action today on the Illinois State Fairgrounds big mile track including the Mike Brink stable’s Cash Money Twenty who not only took division honors in his first racing season but his gaudy juvenile record of 11 wins in 12 starts, including the $206,253, Incredible Finale final on Hawthorne’s Night of Champions, a first season mark of 1:50, and a first season bankroll of $226,545 boosted the young phenom  to the 2024 Illinois Harness Horse of the Year honors.

 Regular driver Casey Leonard, who last year secured a share of Cash Money Twenty from the principal owners Heart and Soul Racing of Des Moines, Iowa, will leave from the rail in the tenth race, third grouping of the Cardinal.

 Back defending her title as the top filly pacer in her division is the Amy Husted stable’s Thebeautifulthings who again will be driven by her husband Kyle in the third Violet division. After losing her freshman opener, the talented filly rattled off eight consecutive triumphs in her initial campaign, topped off with the $224,623 Incredible Tillie title on Hawthorne’s Night of Champions.

 Thebeautifulthings is seeking her first win of the year. Her first four starts have been in open company, the last couple in the prestigious Fan Hanover series in Canada. She made the $288,000 championship field with a third-place finish in her elimination, timed in 1:51.1, but was never in position to contend in the final.

 Thebeautifulthing’s main threat today could come from the speedster Wildcat Abby (Cordarius Stewart), trained by Roshun Trigg, The Captain Trevor filly won her Downstate Classic divisions by a widening 18 lengths. She drew outside today, but the filly can get away from the starting gate in a hurry.

 The second division of Violet trot drew both last year’s champ Lou’s By Number and recent Downstate Classic victor Kays In Charge. Casey chose to drive Lou’s My Number and Marcus Miller has taken over the lines on Kays In Charge, unbeaten in three outings as a 3-year-old. Kays In Charge landed inside of her main rival (four-post to the seven-slot), and that could give the edge to the Tom Simmons trainee to dictate the fractions.

 Marcus also takes back the lines in the first Cardinal trot grouping on freshman champ Louise’s Legacy, who was driven by Casey in his recent Downstate Classic victory. Miller handled the Erv Miller trainee in the latter part of the gelding’s first season, including the horse’s Kadabra championship.

 First post Friday is 10:30 a.m. Rain pushed back Wednesday’s scheduled opener to today. The scheduled Friday program will follow the conclusion of today’s Violet and Cardinal stake events.