Columbus, MN — The Sunday afternoon (July 5) harness racing program at Running Aces hosted a nice field of seven for the $6,700 upper-level conditioned trot which was carded as the feature of the day.

My Uncle Cuz (Don Harmon) was the talk of the toteboard (1-1) while dropping from the $10,000 Open Handicap last out, while Muscle Ave (Dean Magee) was jumping up in class after a sharp win in his last outing, and was also well regarded in the win pool at 8-5.

My Uncle Cuz secured the garden seat throughout and emerged with trot in mid-stretch to convert the perfect trip into a half-length victory in 1:55.4 over Pridecrest. Dee Leftwich photo.

Track record holder Pridecrest (Mooney Svendsen) offered lots of value at 7-2 and was fastest off the gate, leading for seven-eighths of a mile while taking heavy pressure from Muscle Ave who was looming first-over from the three-eighths marker on. My Uncle Cuz secured the garden seat throughout and emerged with trot in mid-stretch to convert the perfect trip into a half-length victory in 1:55.4 over Pridecrest. Its A Horse (Darrell Wright) closed sharply to pick up third money over Muscle Ave.

My Uncle Cuz ($4.20) is a 6-year-old son of ABC Garland and is owned by Krista Harmon and trained by Don Harmon. It was the first win of the year for the winner of $316,079.

Twilight Tinker (Nick Roland, $3.00) rolled to a new lifetime mark of 1:58.4 on Sunday, while racking up her third impressive win in a row, coming from well out of it early to sweep the field and deliver as the heavy favorite.

Drivers Nick Roland, Mooney Svendsen, Pat Berry and Don Harmon all registered two winners on the day, while trainer Jessica Johnson scored two wins.

Ariel Alvarez picked up his first career training win when his pacer E R Michael (Pat Berry) posted a 2-1/4 length score in 1:54.1.

Live racing returns to Running Aces on Tuesday (July 7) at 1 p.m. (CDT) and will feature a carryover in the Pick-5 Jackpot Wager of $5,130.26.