In the $7,500 Minnesota-Sired three-year-old gelding Trot, The Winnin Dollar was looking for his sixth straight win in the harness racing contest, but would fall short tonight at Running Aces.
Mr Jackpot with Dean Magee in the sulky was quickest to the quarter pole in 29 before yielding to Margins Echo and driver Rick Magee who posted the middle fractions of 1:00.1 and 1:30.1 , then big favorite The Winnin Dollar came stepping by, leading to the top of the stretch, but Mr Jackpot shook free from the cones and had plenty of late trot down to the wire, tripping the beam in 1:59.3, a lifetime best win with Margin’s Echo re-rallying for second, and Abra’s Momentum (Gerald Longo) closing for third.
Mr Jackpot had been struggling in 2016, after being a dominating Minnesota-Sired 2 year old Trotter at Running Aces last season, setting a new track record here as a two-year-old, winning 6 races in 9 starts and banking $36,460. Tonight’s tally was the first of the year for the now 3 year old son of Money Talks, Owned by Glen Wilson, trainer Brett Ballinger and Carl Swanson. Mr Jackpot fans were rewarded handsomely at the windows, with a $35.20 payout for every $2.00 ticket.
The Sunday Feature on the Running Aces harness racing card was the $13,000 Open Handicap pace for horses & geldings, with a very talented field of 9 going to battle in the contest, The race favorite Roland N Rock was sent out to the early lead by driver Nick Roland, and they posted a very fast opening fraction of 26.2, before yielding to last week’s winner Holdingallthecards (Dean Magee), who threw up the middle fractions of 55.0 and 1:23.4 before tiring in the stretch. The race set up very well for the closers in the field, and there were two horses charging on the outside of the racetrack into the homestretch, I’m An Athlete with Jim Marino in the bike, and Dry Ice with Steve Wiseman, those two battled down to the wire, with Dry Ice getting a head up on the line to stop the clock in 1:53.
Dry Ice is a 5 year old gelding by Badlands Hanover, owned by A Piece of The Action, LLC and trained by Steve Wiseman. Tonight’s score was the 6th win of the year for Dry Ice, and established a new lifetime mark, while pushing his career bankroll to $110,375. OfficerNaGentelman (Tim Maier) was third in the contest, and winner Dry Ice returned a $6.80 mutuel.
The $7,500 Minnesota-Sired 3 year old filly Trot was dominated by race favorite Bombshell Betty ($3.80) with driver Jim Marino, making an early move to the lead just past the 30.2 quarter, Bombshell Betty was never in doubt the rest of the way, posting fractions of 1:00.4 and 1:30.0 before trotting home in 30.1 to stop the clock at 2:00.1, a new lifetime best. It was the 4th win in 7 starts this year for the filly by Sos Lunar Eclipse, owned by Jesse De Long and Tabatha Canaar and trained by Justin Anfinson. WhateverShesGot (Gerald Longo) was second, and RSS Express (Steve Wiseman) checked in third.
Driver Nick Roland capped off a big weekend with a driving triple tonight, after scoring the grand slam last evening. Tonight he delivered with DC’s Better Life ($2.80) in 1:56.3, Whata Bizness ($15.80) in 1:55 and Headsup Yankee ($9.40) in 1:53.3.
The next card of live Harness Racing goes to post on Tuesday Night, July 19, at 7:00 pm CDT.
Running Aces will be offering a $5,000 guarantee in the late pick-4 wager on Tuesday nights, starting this coming Tuesday, July 19, and we will be adding Live Racing on Wednesdays, starting on July 27th, with a 7:00 CDT post.
By Darin Gagne, Running Aces Track Announcer