Columbus, MN — Keep On Rocking A delivered another big performance at Running Aces on the Sunday afternoon (July 12) card when he made easy work of an abbreviated field to pick up his third straight victory at the top Open Handicap level since arriving in the upper Midwest in mid-June as one of the top horses on the roster of owner/trainer Chris Scicluna.

The 8-year-old Australian import by Rocknroll Hanover dominated this week’s top pace with a sharp effort gate-to-wire in 1:52.4 as he and driver Pat Berry fired to the lead from post five and then registered moderate early fractions of :27.4 and :57.

Keep On Rocking A made it three in a row in the Open Handicap Pace. Dee Leftwich photo.

Berry then proceeded to step on the gas pedal with the leader just past the midway point, keeping everybody in chase mode with a solid final half-mile in :55.4 to record a 1-3/4 length tally and eclipse the quarter-million dollar mark ($252,992) in career earnings with his 27th lifetime win. He was the heavy favorite in the wagering and returned $2.80 for every $2 investment.

Heza Real Diamond (Nick Roland) rode the pocket and held gamely for second while Royale Big Guy (Mooney Svendsen) secured the third position throughout.

Also featured on the Sunday program were three divisions of the Minnesota-sired sophomore trotters, with SB Madam Secretary (Darrell Wright, $6.00) turning in a career best 1:57.2 mile in the $11,500 ‘A’ division over Teachmehowtotory (Nick Roland) who was just a half-length back at the wire.

The $6,900 ‘B’ division went to Double My Decker (Pat Berry, $2.20) in 2:02.1 for her sixth career win, while SB My Boy Gideon (Gerald Longo, $4.40) was placed as the winner in the $4,600 ‘C’ division after Beautiful Beast (Mooney Svendsen) was disqualified for a lapped on break at the wire. The mile was registered in 1:58.3 while SB My Boy Gideon trotted in 1:58.4.

Driver Pat Berry led the day on Sunday with four winners, while Lemoyne (‘Mooney’) Svendsen registered a triple and both Gerald Longo and Darrell Wright each picked up a driving double. Trainers Justin Anfinson and Ulf Holm-Johansen were the leaders on the day with two winners apiece.

Live racing returns to Running Aces on Tuesday (July 14), with first post at 1 p.m. (CDT) and features a carryover in the 20-cent Pick-5 Jackpot wager of $8,169.96.