Reign And Shine (Jamaica Patton), fresh off another victory at Springfield, goes postward in Friday’s featured eighth race trot at Du Quoin. (Patricia Fryman).

By Mike Paradise for the IHHA

Hawthorne’s State Fairgrounds meeting shifts back to the cozy confines of Du Quoin Friday afternoon with a large 13-race program.

The sharpest trotter thus far at the meet has been Mr. Carroll and Diane Hays’ Reign And Shine who is gunning for her fourth win in her last five starts in the featured eighth race conditioned trot with regular driver Jamaica Patton.

The six-year-old trotter, bred and owned by the Hays of Williamsville, Illinois, was a game winner a week ago at Springfield in 1:55.1 when she raced without cover from the half-mile pole on and held off the solid ICF trotter Lousdobb by almost one length.

Reign And Shine’s lone loss since the Illinois racing season got underway way in late May was at Du Quoin in early June when she went off stride before that start and was almost a dozen lengths off the leader by the quarter mile marker and ended up a non-threatening fourth.

It’s not the first time, nor will it likely be the last, that the sometime fickle mare will act up before a start.

“She’s a pleasure to drive but she doesn’t like drivers,” said Jamaica. “It’s just not me. It’s any driver. That’s why we had to scratch her a few weeks ago. She wouldn’t let me on the bike. What I do now is let Mr. Carroll (trainer and owner) walk her onto the track and then hop onto the seat.

“However, once we get going, she likes her work. You can race her anyway you want, and she’ll give her all. She’s a very nice mare and she especially likes Springfield.”

Reign And Shine had gotten better as she got older.

After failing to hit the board in five starts as a freshman, she made a little over $20,000 at three and took a mark of 1:59.1 in her second season. The mare earned just under $50,000 as a four-year-old and lowered her mark in 1:56.1. Last year she banked over $60,000 and trotted a 1:54.1 winning mile at Springfield.

What’s interesting about her breeding is that while she was sired by the late Illinois stud Cassis, Reign And Shine’s dam Faith And Trust was by the pacing bred Ft. Apache Hanover.

Landing the advantageous pole position in the trotting feature is last year’s Illinois two-year-old filly trot champion Marvelous Mystery who will be driven by her trainer and co-owner Curt Grummel. She’s been third in each of her starts as a three-year-old after prevailing in 10 of 12 outings in her juvenile campaign.

Looking to pull off a bit of an upset are Just Nother Bag (Wyatt Avenatti), Get To The Pointe (Kyle Husted), Whatta Year (Juan Franco) Das Schnipker (Mike Brink) and La Lolita (Matt Avenatti).

The Kenny Collier trained Das Schnipker especially bears watching. The three-year-old Dontyouforgetit was flying down the Springfield stretch last week and looked like he was going to rally in time when he made what appeared to be a speed break and lost all chance.

With the Illinois county Fair Circuit in full bloom, many of the younger pacers and trotters are competing for the second time in a week while going from a half-mile track at the Martinsville Fair on Monday to the full mile oval Friday.

Seven Martinsville winners—Fox Valley Venice, Fox Valley August, Ashlee’s Amanda, Bell Boots, Shady Maple Isaac, Filly’s Revenge, and Foxman—are looking to repeat Friday in a five-day span.

The first post for Friday’s Du Quoin’s 13-race card is 1 p.m. (CDT).