Columbus, MN – The featured harness racing event on Saturday night, (Aug 25) at Running Aces was the $20,000 Minnesota Sired or Owned Preferred Pace, and local fan favorite Firedrake stole the show with a furious charge to the wire to capture his fifth win of the season, and secure his second Running Aces major event victory.
Stuckey Dote (Rick Magee) was the slight betting choice from post seven and fired right out of the gate to engage Firedrake (Brian Detgen) for the lead. Firedrake had plenty of early speed from post one, but yielded for the pocket trip and Stuckey Dote settled on top after a 26.2 opening stanza.
BestintheBusiness (James Yoder) was attacking first-over past the 55.1 half mile, with Cantholdmebackmack (Ryan Anderson) launching from the second over position to sweep three-wide down the backside.
Stuckey Dote was holding sway past the 1:23.3 clocking at three-quarters, but Firedrake was right there in the pocket, and Whatchastarinat (Lemoyne Svendsen) was now a new 3-wide challenger as they turned for home. Firedrake powered through the inside lane in deep stretch to claim victory over the field, with Stuckey Dote holding second over Whatchastarinat and Bestinthebusiness.
The final winning margin was 3/4 of a length in a 1:52 mile for Firedrake ($6.20) establishing a new seasonal mark. The always impressive 5 year old son of Dragon Again now sports 23 career wins and has boosted his seasonal earnings to $67,370 for owners Set The Pace Racing, LLC and trainer Nick Roland.
Getter Queen Flush pulled a mild upset over Place At The Beach in the $9,000 Mares Claiming Handicap pace, with a gradual advancing move from the back of the pack, driver James Yoder was able to take aim at the leader and race favorite Place At The Beach (Dean Magee) near mid-stretch and powered by for a half-length tally in 1:54.3.
For Getter Queen Flush ($13.00) it was her seventh triumph of the season in 32 starts, and pushed her 2018 bankroll to $33,348 for owner/trainer George Reider along with Richard Thomas and Theresa Paul.
The 20 cent Jackpot Pick-5 wager now has a carryover of $24,334.50 for Sunday night (Aug 26) with first post at 6:00 pm CDT.
by Darin Gagne', for Running Aces