COLUMBUS, MN. – Al-Mar Skip Bo and Texakota scored harness racing upsets in their respective $8000 divisions for Minnesota-sired sophomore trotters at Running Aces on Sunday night.
Driver Rick Magee rushed Al-Mar Skip Bo directly to the lead in the colts split and never looked back, besting favored Go See Lo Go (Nick Roland) and Drakensberg (Luke Plano) in 2:01.4. The same bunch will be joined by a few others when they chase a $21,000 purse on Minnesota State Championships Night next Saturday (September 12), which is closing night on the 2015 Running Aces summer meet. Magee also owns and trains the winning son of Abra who was notching his fourth career victory and pushed his lifetime earnings to just over $30,000.
Texakota (Lemoyne Svendsen) notched her first-ever pari-mutuel win in 2:01.3 over a sloppy track in the fillies division for owners Cynthia Ivey and Ryan Lems. The daughter of Abra collared Al-Mar Reba Babe (Gerry Longo) in the final stride with Marisa's Lady (Tim Maier) third in the seven-horse field. Bob Lems trains Texakota, who has shown speed all season but had problems staying on stride until this final tuneup for Championship Night. Heavily favored Becky Badger Baby made an uncharacteristic break when driver Nick Roland's sulky wheel tube popped and resulted in racing with a flat tire for more than the final half mile.
El Azteca (Gerry Longo) won the meet's final $9600 Open Trot by two lengths over Thekeptman (Luke Plano) and Jimmy Shin (Steve Wiseman). It was the 34th lifetime score in just 74 career starts for the six-year-old stud owned by Marco Rios and trained in Minnesota by Bob Johnson.
Both Rick Magee and Gerry Longo scored driving doubles on the ten-race program. Leading drivers Nick Roland and Steve Wiseman each had one win, giving them 71 and 69 tallies respectively with three nights remaining to determine the local dash title for this season.
Gregg Keidel