JR Strike Three (No. 5, Casey Leonard), at 19-1, got past the 1-9 prohibitive favorite Guitar Man (inside) in their Incredible Finale series leg. (Four Footed Fotos)

By Mike Paradise

  Hawthorne’s Night of Champion series for ICF colt and gelding pacers was shook up last weekend with some significant surprises in both the Incredible Finale and Robert F. Carey series legs.

 One of the most notable came in the freshman Incredible Finale series when Guitar Man, who dominated the opposition in both the Du Quoin’s Director Cup and the Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes, was overtaken by the 20-1 longshot JR Strike Three in their match-up.

 The Tom Simmons trained homebred looked good earlier in the season but then tailed off, finishing no better than a non-threating fifth in his previous four starts.

  However, it was a much different story last weekend. Nicely guided by Casey Leonard, the Time To roll gelding rolled past the heavy 1-9 favorite to eke out a nose victory, his third of the season. The winning mile of 1:52.4, was more than seven seconds off his best previous time of 2:00 flat back on July 7th.

 “Last week he got a very good trip, and I had a chance to train him down for the start,” said trainer Tom Simmons whose wife Benita shares ownership of the horse with James Cravens of Buffalo, Illinois.

 After back-to-back wins at Springfield in July with Casey, JR Strike Three finished up the track in his last July outing. It would be a month before the youngster made another start.

 “He got sick,” explained Tom. “It took a while to get over his sickness and then I had a hard time getting him some starts because of the weather.”

 It wasn’t until Du Quoin at the end of August before JR Strike Three went to the gate and he didn’t start behind it. He had post 11 in the second tier. He fell back early and raced a far-back tenth through the first half and did well to come on for a fifth-place check.

 “Big Guy” Cashes In: Another Incredible Finale leg upset occurred when the two-year-old track record holder (1:52.1) Fox Valley Julian (Casey Leonard) had too much ground to try and make-up and the 1-2 betting choice was non-threatening second to Gorgeous Big Guy (Todd Warren) in a 1:53.3 mile.

 Gorgeous Big Guy was purchased in mid-September by trainer Erv Miller for Doug Overhiser (Florida) and Mark Winship (Illinois). The Ashlee’s Big Guy gelding came into the race with triumphs a Director’s Cup division at Du Quoin and his ISFCS split, contested at Hawthorne.

 Fox Valley Landen (Kyle Husted) took a seven-race winning streak into his Carey leg but that’s where it ended abruptly as the 1-5 prohibitive favorite was passed in the lane by the 8-1 longshot Fox Valley Langley (Travis Seekman).

 The Jamaca Patton trained Fox Valley Langley was last year’s ICF freshman colt and gelding champion but was making only his second start of the year and his first since June 22nd.

  Again, it was health issues that kept this two-year-old on the sidelines. A bad abscess on the front leg of the Somestarsomewhere gelding was the reason for his long absence.

 Despite missing the first two legs of the Carey series, Fox Valley Langley’s win gave the youngster a 50-point boost and likely sewed up a starting berth in the Night of Champions final.

  The fourth Carey leg will be contested next weekend, a week before Hawthorne’s showcase racing evening.