The red-hot Talk About Valor (Travis Seekman) is handicapped with the 10-post in Sunday’s Open trot. (Four Footed Fotos) 

By Mike Paradise

 A very competitive 10-horse Open trot field contest and a spirited Open with seven solid pacers going to gate takes over the betting public eyes on Sunday’s 13-race card at Hawthorne.

  The two-time defending ICF aged trotter of the year Talk About Valor (Travis Seekman) puts his four-race winning streak on the line in the tenth race $11,100 Open for trotters. The pride of the Gerald Hansen stable has his work cut out to win for the 36th time in 95 lifetime starts after being assigned the outside 10-hole against a very good field of diagonal gaited specialists.

 The eight-year-old Yankee Valor gelding has been prevailing on the front end and that may very well be the tactic again Sunday. However, getting there could be difficult. There are plenty of other trotters with gate speed whose drivers would love to give their horses an up-close journey.

 Dropping back and coming from tenth and last to pop likely isn’t in the cards for Talk About Valor although some of his three dozen or so career wins have come from out of it.

  Six of Talk About Valor challengers Sunday spent time in the Open handicaps trots at Running Aces in Minnesota: Chiplosive (Jim Lackey), Perlucky (Casey Leonard), Scorecard Dan (Brandon Bates), Rock Party (Juan Franco), Winnerup (Kevin Lambright) and Jack Vernon (Todd Warren).

 The lone Hoosier Park invader is Big Christian (Cordarus Stewart) and he’s a good one. The four-year-old Swan For All gelding has made over $102,000 this year and has a mark of 1:53.1, taken on the Indiana track. Landing the 9-slot with so many horses will make his task an arduous one, to say the least.

 Also going postward is Danny Graham’s longtime Illinois trotting queen Annas Lucky Star with her gaudy credentials. The now nine-year-old made has banked over $650,000 for her Salem, Illinois owner while making an amazing 60 winner’s circle visits.

 The Jamaica Parron’s Heath Bar (Jack Killeen), making her first start since Jule, completes the excellent field.

  Every horse in Sunday’s Open trot has earned six figures in their career with the Jim Eaton stable’s eight-year-old mare Perlucky topping the list with $703,584. Todd Warren’s 10-year-old Muscle Hill gelding Jack Vernon comes nest with $631,025 and he raced very well, losing to Talk About Valor by less than one length.

  “Wise Sky” Attention Getter: The sixth race Open for pacers centers around the two-time Illinois Harness Horse of the Year He’zzz A Wise Sky who will be handled by his regular driver Kyle Wilfong.

 The six-year-old home bred returned to the races in last week’s Open after a month on the sidelines and showed that he needed the start, fading to a sixth at the finish after leading the way through 1:22.3 three-quarters.

 “The horse had been sick,” said his trainer, John Filomeno. “He needed that start. There’s a lot of mucus sickness going around. All my horses in the barn have been affected. He’zzz A Wise Sky trained better this week, but he isn’t in his tip-top racing shape just yet.”

 He’zzz A Wise Sky landed the outside seven-post Sunday and inside of him are six very talented aged pacers (from the pole position out): Mr Charisma (Brandon Bates), Bet Mine (Toss Warren), Tookadiveoffdipper (Casey Leonard), Mac’s Marvel (Kevin Lambright), Play Me Rock (Travius Seekman) and Round Here Buzz (Juan Franco) the latter pair are from the Perry Smith stable.

 Play Me Rock put on a strong move in deep stretch to capture last week’s Open in 1:50.1 over Round Here Buzz who uncorked a wicked 26 flat last quarter in his half-length loss.

 Mac’s Marvel trained by Maria Alvarez, was a stalwart foe at Running Aces this summer, consistently in the top three finishers in most of the Open handicaps in Minnesota despite leaving from outside posts in September.