Columbus, MN — The Saturday afternoon (Aug. 8) program at Running Aces offered two big pacing feature events in the $10,000 Open Handicap for horses and geldings and the Minnesota-Sired sophomores going for $15,000.

Stuckey Dote dug in gamely to edge out Parklane Jet in 1:52.1. Dee Leftwich photo.

The Open event saw Whatchyastarinat (Braxten Boyd) surge first from the gate from post five and hold a brief lead while Prologue (Tim Maier) also stepped lively from post six to take over and then Keep On Rocking A (Chris Scicluna) worked hard to make the lead near the three-eighth mile juncture. The early fractions were :27.1 and :55.4.

After taking the lead, Keep On Rocking A faced pressure from Stuckey Dote (Darrell Wright) who pulled first-up and attacked the leader from near the half. Rounding for home Parklane Jet (Dean Magee) circled up three wide, and took the lead as they straightened for the wire. But Stuckey Dote was not done and battled back gamely to the finish, getting a head in front at the line in 1:52.1 with Whatchyastarinat rallying for third money over Keep On Rocking A.

The gelded 7-year-old Voracious Hanover progeny Stuckey Dote ($11.40) now shows 38 career wins and $366,766 in earnings for owner/breeder Merlin Van Otterloo. The winning trainer is Brett Ballinger.

Its A Marcs World (Nick Roland $2.20) posted another impressive and dominating win for four in a row in the 3-year-old pace after working hard to make the front from post eight and then fending off constant pressure from chief rival Bunkerhill Phil (Braxten Boyd) with a three-quarter length score in 1:53 for his sixth win of the year. Dubberyoo (Mooney Svendsen) turned in a career best effort to get up for second and Bunkerhill Phil was home third.

Its A Marcs World is a gelded son of Marced Card and out of the Life Sign mare Life’s Image. He is owned by Duane Roland and trained by Jessica Johnson.

Driver Nick Roland scored another natural hat trick on Saturday, to lead the program with three wins, while Darrell Wright posted a driving double.

Live racing returns to Running Aces on Sunday (Aug. 9) with first post at 1 p.m. (CDT).