by Darin Gagne, for Running Aces Casino & Racetrack

Columbus, MN — The featured event on the Sunday night program at Running Aces was the $12,000 Open Pace and it drew a talented field of nine.

Dee Leftwich photo

SF Donttellonme scored in a new lifetime best mile of 1:51.1.

SF Donttellonme ($15.40) and Joe Casagranda got the first and last call in the contest. After leaving quickly from post two they had the lead at the fast :26.3 check-in, before yielding to Easy Again (Rick Magee) who posted the middle numbers of :55.3 and 1:23.2 while facing sharp first-over pressure from Lodi Machette Man (Dean Magee).

As they turned for home Easy Again fought gamely, but SF Donttellonme found an inside lane and powered by for a 1-1/2 length tally in a new lifetime best mile of 1:51.1, with Easy Again holding second over a fast closing JDS Brent N Sheree (Nick Roland).

Casagranda also owns and trains the talented 7-year-old son of Cam Terrific, who has now won 28 lifetime races and earned $173,770.

The $13,000 Minnesota-sired 3-year-old trot event went to Imapixieatmidnight ($3.60) as she dominated in gate-to-wire fashion from post three in a six-horse contest with trainer Nick Roland in the sulky. The 2:01.3 winner is a filly by SOS Lunar Eclipse and has now won four of 13 races this season and bankrolled $39,343 for Set The Pace Racing, LLC. Silent Dreams (Dean Magee) was home second, with KB’s Speedy Fox (Mooney Svendsen) checking in third.

The leading driver and leading trainer contests are very close as we move into the final month of the 2017 season. Nick Roland and Steve Wiseman have been trading the lead among drivers over the past week, and Roland currently holds a one race advantage at 64-63 after this weekend’s action. On the trainer side, the race has tightened up tremendously over the past week as well, with Kathie Plested-Wiseman advancing to the lead by one win (33-32) over Nick Roland.

The 20-cent Jackpot Pick-5 wager has a carryover of $33,892.55 for Tuesday night (Aug. 15) and the Hi-5 wager in race 10 will also feature a carryover of $1,585.81. For information and upcoming events, visit our website at www.RunAces.com.