Indiana champion Trick Of The Light (Mike Oosting) makes her Illinois debut in Sunday’s filly and mare Open Pace at Hawthorne. (Dean Gillette Photo) 

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

 There’s a new challenger in the Hawthorne filly and mare Open pace ranks to current champion Marvelous Marshia and she has the credentials to be a major force in Sunday’s third race feature.

 Making her first career start for the Virgil Morgan Jr. stable is the now five-year-old mare Trick Of The Light who has piled up purse earnings of over a half million dollars in just three years of racing in the Midwest.

 The Odds On Equuleus mare was a sales acquisition by Odds On Racing of Boca Raton, Florida in mid-December after capturing her third consecutive victory at Dayon Raceway in Ohio for trainer Ron Burke. Trick Of the Light’s last win came in a $25,000 Open in 1:51.2. She took her mark of 1:50 flat at Scioto Downs last August.

 Trick Of The Light and Marvelous Marshia drew for the outside five and six slots in Sunday’s feature with the latter landing the farther post. Mike Oosting is back to guide Marvelous Marcia while Kyle Husted gets the catch drive behind Trick Of The Light, the 9-5 morning line favorite.

 Both are five-year-old pacing mares with a history between them. The talented twosome competed against each other in Indiana Sire Stakes as two and three-year-olds. Trick Of The Light beat Marvelous Marcia as a freshman however  the Always A Virgin prodigy finished ahead of her rival each time they met in their second seasons.

 A good hunk of Trick Of The Light’s $513,83 career earnings ($125,000) came when she in 2021 won the $270,000 ISS Final in her last start as a 2-year-old while under the care of trainer Brian Brown.

 As a 3-year-old, Trick Of The Light competed on the Grand Circuit for Brown, second best by a neck in the Nadia Lobell and a close up fourth (beaten less than two lengths) in the Mistletoe Shalee) championship racing first over.

 Trick Of The Light was sold and changed barns in 2023, first racing for trainer Noel Daley at the start of the year, winning high level conditioned races at the Meadowlands and Yonkers before joining the Ron Burke stable where she competed in Miami Valley Opens and then racing in Ohio’s Scioto Downs, Northfield Park, and Daytona Raceway venues.

 Trick Of The Light was bought for $50,000 as a yearling while Marvelous Marcia went for $42,000 at the same Hoosier Sale.

 Marvelous Marsha joined the Jim Eaton Stable after her last race at Hoosier Park in early December and promptly had impressive back-to-back triumphs in Hawthorne Opens for her McGahan native trainer.

 Last week Marvelous Marshia unleashed a quick 27.1 last panel with Mike Oosting at her lines to win in 1:54 flat. A week earlier she was first to go three-wide and still prevailed in 1:53.1 in her Illinois bow.

 The strong Indiana bred duo will be challenged by Kizzzmelikeumissme (Kyle Wilfong), Brooke’s Ocean (Brandon Bates), Roan By Design (Travis Seekman) and Bombay Parkway (Casey Leonard), the runner-up to Marvelous Marshia in the last two local distaff opens.

 The supporting cast on Sunday’s eleven race card includes a $9.500 Open II event for horses that did not finish first or second in an Open in their last start, basically written to keep out ICF champion He’zzz A Wise Sky, winner of the last four Hawthorne Opens, from competing this weekend.

 The conditions also kept the Hector Herrera stable’s Mr Chrisma on the sidelines after a game second place effort a week ago against He’zzz A Wise Sky.

 The Open II, which was drawn by groups (1-3) (4-7,) does have a solid and competitive field comprised of Rockin Pulse (Wyatt Avenatti), Fox Valley Cayman (Brandon Bates) and Sweet Truth (Kyle Wilfong), along with Knights Templer A (Juan Franco), Round Here Buzz (Mike Oosting), Hello Sweetie Boy (Travis Seekman) and Town Gossip (Casey Leonard), in that order.