By Mike Paradise, for the IHHA

Funky Wiggle, the reigning Illinois Harness Horse of the Year no doubt enjoyed her eight-month vacation but when it was time to get back to work, she was more than ready to do her job, easily winning her 2023 debut Friday afternoon at Springfield.

The now four-year-old daughter of Lou’s Legacy, out of the Mr. Cantab mare Hoosier Wiggles, overcame the outside eight-hole for trainer and driver Curt Grummel and pretty much coasted to a 1:55 flat mile.

Curt took the champ out from the outside slot, cleared some heavy inside traffic going into the first turn and put Funky Wiggle on top where she remained throughout.

After a 28.1 first quarter Funky Wiggle was backed down to a soft 29.4 second panel and when unchallenged she got to the the three-quarter pole in 1:27.3. Grummel asked the mare for a little more in the lane and she answered with a 28 flat last quarter,

The veteran mare Louzotic (Juan Franco) was second best, beaten more than two lengths while her Steve Searle trained stable mate Loulita (Wyatt Avenatti) was a non-threatening third.

Aglow Again: Reign And Shine came up with a game winning performance in Friday’s feature trot, edging the front stepping La Lolita (Matt Avenatti) with a new lifetime mark of 1:54 flat for owners and breeders Carroll and Diane Hays of Williamsville, Illinois.

The six-year-old Cassius winning mare raced without cover from the half-mile pole (57 flat) on for regular driver Jamaica Patton and collared La Lolita in the final strides for her third triumph on the mare’s home-based track. Lousdobb (Casey Leonard) came on to be third.

Mystery Solved: The ICF three-year-old filly trot division got very interesting when the Rick Schrock Stable’s Radiant Diamond collared and pasted the current ruling champion Marvelous Mystery (Curt Grummel) a race later in 1:57 flat by a little less than one length.

Driver Travis Seekman was content to give up the early lead to Marvelous Mystery and take what turned out to be a winning pocket trip for the recent Violet titleholder bred by her owners Jodi Peacock (Cantrall, IL) and Carol Reynolds (Springfield, IL)

Make That Five Straight: The Amy Husted stable’s Fox Valley Landen extended his winning streak to five in a row on Thursday to retain his top spot in the ICF three-year-old male pacing division, but it didn’t come easy.

Fox Valley Landen was sixth in the seven-horse field, five lengths off the pace at the three-quarter pole and appeared to be locked-in and buried for the stretch drive when driver Kyle Husted saw a slight opening in the last sixteenth. It allowed the Somestarsomewhere gelding to burst through between horses and go on to a 1:52.2 clocking, thanks to a sizzling 26 last quarter.

Squeezing One Out: One race earlier Illinois champion Fox Valley Gemini also was begging for room in his stretch drive. And he got it when driver Casey Leonard was able to squeeze the eight-year-old star of the Terry Leonard stable through a small gap that enabled the three-time Illinois Harness Horse of the Year to pick up his 58th career victory, this one in 1:52.3.

The win was one of six for Casey on the Thursday Springfield card. He had three more winners on Friday, and so did Cordarius Stewart. Casey leads Cordarius by one winner, 32 to 31, with next week’s two scheduled days of racing left for the downstate meet.