by Darin Gagne, for Running Aces

Columbus, MN — Driver Nick Roland recently turned in his 1,500th career driving victory when he piloted Sing N Sandi to her maiden victory (1:58.2) in race 11 on the program on Sunday (July 8).

Nick Roland drove his 1,500th winner on July 8 at Running Aces.

Roland is the all-time leading driver at Running Aces, having made more than 725 trips to the local winner’s circle since the track opened in 2008. He has been the track’s leading dash winner four times. Nick is also the track’s all-time leading money winner.

Nick’s driving career started back in 1998, and he had his best year with wins and UDR in 2012 with 140 victories and a very impressive UDR of .432. Nick’s best year with purse earnings so far was 2017, with $685,077.

In addition to his current total of 1,510 victories, Roland has picked up 1,233 seconds and 1,032 thirds for a total of 3,775 top three finishes in 7,046 trips to the gate, an impressive average of more than 50 percent in the top three.

One of the top horses that Nick has campaigned as both a driver and trainer is Firedrake, a winner of 22 of 52 lifetime starts and winner of the 2017 Dan Patch FFA pace at Running Aces, and runner-up this year, after just missing the repeat championship by a neck in 1:51.1 on Sunday (July 22).

Along with catch-driving, Nick trains a stable of around 15 horses with his longtime girlfriend Jessica Johnson.

Dee Leftwich photos

Rick Magee picked up career driving win 1,000 on July 15 at Running Aces.

Driver Rick Magee recently completed a milestone at Running Aces, when he steered Bringoverthemoney to four wins in a row to pick up his 1,000th career driving victory in race one on Sunday (July 15).

Rick is currently second in all-time statistics at Running Aces, and he has picked up 558 of his career wins right here at the Minnesota oval.

Rick started his driving career in 2002, but it really took off when Running Aces opened in 2008. His best year so far with wins was 2009 with 139, and his best year both in UDR and purses was 2016 with an average of .372 and earnings of $531,179.

Rick has campaigned many good horses over the years at Running Aces, and currently trains a stable of around a dozen horses with his longtime girlfriend Mikaela Del Giudice. Their roster currently includes standout pacers Stevensville and Hawk’s Red Chief, both of them competing at the highest level this season, and both also competing in the 2018 Dan Patch FFA.