Perlucky (Casey Leonard) looks for his third Open trot victory at Hawthorne in Monday’s feature race. 9Four Footed Fotos). 

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

 Illinois Harness Racing Hall of Fame trainer Jim Eaton will double-up on his chances to have a winning horse in Sunday’s featured $11,100 Open Trot at Hawthorne. 

 A good portion of the public’s wagering money will go to Eaton’ s ultra-consistent trotter Perlucky, who has been a steady-money maker all season ($!09,508) and at Hawthorne he’s been no worse than third (just once) in seven starts, winning twice and the runner-up on four occasions.

  Eaton will also send out the 3-year-old trotter Caldrone, a recent addition to his stable. Eaton’s long-time owner Robert Siberberg dished out $85,000 at a sale last month to purchase the well-regarded trotter who didn’t fare well in his initial Hawthorne start, finishing a far-back fifth a couple of weeks ago.

 However, there was a reason for the trotter’s disappointing Hawthorne debut.

 “He was too aggressive,” revealed Eaton. “He broke his choke plate in half when making a big move on the backside and was done before the last quarter of the mile.”

 Caldrone went from seventh to second in the second quarter but pushed himself so hard and had nothing left for the stretch drive.

 Caldrone went from sixth, about eight lengths behind to second, two lengths behind the front stepping Rockyroad Aldo who trotted middle quarters of 28.2 and 27.4 after a slow 30.2 first panel.

 “Caldrone has plenty of talent, but I have my work cut out to curb his aggressiveness,” continued Eaton. “He’s a completely different horse off the racetrack. He’s gentle as can be. He’s a wonderful horse to be around but that all changes on the racetrack. He wants to beat those other horses, but he’ll have to

be less aggressive to do it.”

 Unraced as a two-year-old, the Chapter Seven prodigy has won seven races in his first campaign, including a division of the Simpson stake, while banking nearly $80,000 before being bought by Robert Silberberg of the Farmington Hills, Michigan, also the proprietor of Perlucky.

 The two Eaton trained trotters will start at opposition ends at the starting gate. The draw was by groups, one through four and five through eight and it went well for Caldrone (Kyle Wilfong) who landed the pole position and not so much for Perlucky (Casey Leonard). He will leave from the outside eight slot.

 In between you’ll find Never Mind N (Todd Warren), Reign And Shine (Wyatt Avenatti), Maple Grove Mangin (Brandon Bates), Annas Lucky Star (Mike Oosting), Talk About Valor (Travis Seekman) and Rockyroad Aldo (Bobby Smolin), in that order.

 A victory for Perlucky would be the Lucky Chuck gelding’s 40th in seven seasons of racing. His career earnings of $727,116 are tops in the eight-horse field. Illinois long time trotting queen Annas Lucky Star is next with $685,251 amassed for owner and breeder Danny Graham of Salem, Il. The Cassis mare’s 63 lifetime wins are far and away the most in the field.

 The now 9-year-old Talk About Valor will be making his first start for trainer Gerald Hanson since the first week of November. The Yankee Valor gelding earned another $60,000-plus for Monee, Illinois owner Shelley Steele in 2023 after back-to-back seasons as the Illinois Aged Male Trotter of the Year.