Mr Jackpot (Dean Magee) came within two-fifths of a second of the divisional track record at the harness racing meeting at Running Aces on Tuesday (August 25) capturing a $16,000 event for Minnesota-sired freshman trotters.
The two-year-old son of Money Talks swept to the top of the field approaching the half-mile marker then held off late-charging RSS Express (Nick Roland) by three-quarters of a length at the finish line.
Abra's Momentom (Gerry Longo) attempted a game first-over challenge before eventually settling for the show dough.
Trainer Brett Ballinger co-owns Mr Jackpot with partners Glen Wilson and Carl Swanson.
The consistent colt now boasts three wins and three place finishes in just seven lifetime starts.
A race later a full field of nine Open pacers competed for a purse of $9600.
Longshot Cowboy Cold (Luke Plano) used a perfect two-hole trip to narrowly defeat Chewy Baca (Travis Bowman) and Headsup Yankee (Nick Roland) in 1:53.
Owned by K. C. Carvalho, the eight-year-old son of Cheyenne Rei got a late start on his 2015 campaign, but has now triumphed four times in his first ten seasonal outings.
The victory put Luke Plano just a few thousand dollars short of reaching the coveted $10 million plateau in career purse earnings, a feat that could occur Wednesday night when the 35-year-old reinsman is listed to drive in seven of the eight races on the program.
Wednesday's card also features a $1445 carryover in the track's popular 50-cent Pick Six wager on races three through eight.
Post time for the first race is 7:00 p.m. (central time).
Gregg Keidel