by harness racing publicists across North America

Saturday’s (July 1) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from The Meadows, Goshen Historic Track, Buffalo Raceway, Vernon Downs, Kawartha Downs, Dresden Raceway Saratoga Raceway and Running Aces.

Rip This Joint rallies to take Meadows featured pace

Washington, PA — Rip This Joint attacked the leader, Deseronto, first-over, then overtook him in deep stretch to capture Saturday’s (July 1) feature, a $13,000 conditioned pace, at The Meadows.

Chris Gooden photo

Rip This Joint takes the featured pacing event at The Meadows.

Even with his strong uncovered bid from third, Rip This Joint trailed by 2-1/2 lengths at the top of the stretch. The 4-year-old Western Terror-Cheryl Hanover gelding responded to Mike Wilder’s urging and downed Deseronto by a half-length with Royaltyhasarrived third.

Mike Palone trains Rip This Joint, who extended his career bankroll to $148,546, for Lone Wolf Stable.

Jim Pantaleano collected three wins on the 12-race card.

— by Evan Pattak

Goshen Historic Track

Jason Bartlett, winner of four races on the afternoon card at Goshen Historic Track, on set a new track record for 3-year-old pacing fillies driving Carly Girl to a 1:53.3 victory. Carly Girl is owned by Stephen W. Demeter and trained by Tracy Brainard.

Buffalo Raceway

Itsonlyrollrocknroll A ($2.50) took advantage of the luck of the draw in the $9,000 Preferred Pace at Buffalo Raceway on Saturday night (July 1) and crushed the field in 1:54.2. After getting strapped with the seven and eight posts the past two weeks, Itsonlyrocknroll A (Larry Stalbaum) finally drew the pylons and set sail from the rail in easily defeating Lucky King (Ron Beback Jr.) by a throttled down 1-1/4 lengths. Show Stopping (Ray Fisher Jr.) took the show position. Lucky McTrucky took the early lead off the gate but once the field straightened out down the back stretch the first time, Stalbaum stepped on the gas with Itsonlyrocknroll A and powered to the top in :28.2. With the half going in :58.0 and the three-quarters in 1:26.2, Itsonlyrocknroll A opened up a two length margin at the top of the stretch and cruised to the wire thanks to a :28.0 final panel. Owned by Stalbaum and trained by Kimberly Asher, it was the eighth victory in 17 attempts in 2017 for Itsonlyrocknroll A (Million Dollar Cam-Boldandbeautiful). The 6-year-old gelding has now earned $43,350 this season and pushed his career bankroll to $213,520. Stalbaum completed the evening with four wins, David McNeight III had a triple while Kevin Cummings and Drew Monti got doubles. Asher had three training victories with Rose Russo collecting two. Racing will continue on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. with a 10-race program set. There’s a $791 carryover in the Pick-5 which begins in the second race. For more information including the latest news, race replays, results and upcoming promotions, go to www.buffaloraceway.com.

Vernon Downs

Chris Lems would win the first four races at Vernon Downs Saturday night, then he won the nightcap to win five out of nine on the first day of July. Lems would win the opener with Stick With Me Kid ($2.40). Stick With Me Kid would win gate-to-wire winning by six lengths in 1:53.1. Lems would then win the co-feature, Fillies and Mares Open ($9,500) with It’s A Miracle ($13.60). The 7-year-old mare by Always A Virgin who is owned by Victor Finncchiaro and trained by Jordan Hope, would take the lead before the half. Tataria (Truman Gale) would take over the lead at the top of the stretch and Drea’s Good Powow (John Macdonald) would make it three across the track. Somehow It’s A Miracle would battle back and win at the wire in 1:51.0. Tataria was second with Drea’s Good Powow gettin third. Lems would win his third straight with Neon Lights ($3.60) easily in 1:56.2. He would then capture his fourth in a row guiding Lipstick Taser ($4.00) to victory in 1:51.3. Lems would have to wait until race nine to capture his fifth driving Vodka And Lindy ($2.30) to an easy gate-to-wire win in 1:56.1. Wind Of The North (Jeff Long) would win the co-featured Trot ($9,500) on Saturday night. Sweet Thing (Chris Lems) would take charge after the first quarter and lead to the stretch. Prairie Fortune (Mike Deters) would go first over and battle Sweet Thing in mid-stretch. Somehow Wind Of The North (Cantab Hall) who is owned by Daryl Bier and Joann Dombeck while trained by Long, squeezed through to win in 1:53.0. Wind Of The North paid $3.00 for the win. Sweet Thing finished second with Prairie Fortune getting third. Vernon Downs returns with racing on Tuesday (July 4) at 6 p.m. ending with fireworks. For more information please go to www.vernondowns.com.

Kawartha Downs

The weather co-operated for race fans and horse people at Kawartha Downs on Canada’s 150th birthday and the 250th anniversary of horse racing in this country. Despite the gloomy forecasts all day, the rain and thunderstorms stayed away from the Fraserville oval which was giving away t-shirts to commemorate both anniversaries throughout the race night. On the racetrack trainer Tommy Riley and driver Nick Boyd scored back-to-back victories winning the seventh and eighth races. Millers Song gave Nick a 2:01.1 ride to score her win. The three-year-old Windsong Espoir filly is owned by Tommy’s wife Amanda who brought the family’s pony Kokanee to the track as the night’s Meet & Greet horse and Amanda had Kokanee sporting Canada’s colours very stylishly. This was the third win in five lifetime starts for Millers Song who was unraced last year at two. The connections were back in the winners’ circle following the eighth race as Royal Engagement surprised no one by winning in 1:58.2 for Boyd. The 7-year-old Stonebridge Regal mare is undefeated at KD so far this year with four wins to date. She is owned by Brett Riely. Legendary announcer Frank Salive was filling in for regular announcer Evan Loucks and will be back again next Saturday night when racing once again starts at 7 p.m.

Dresden Raceway

Driver James MacDonald and trainer Mark Steacy combined to dominate the Ontario Sire Stakes 3-year-old trotting fillies grassroots divisions at Dresden Raceway by winning three of the four dashes and picking up a third prize in the fourth. In the first division of OSS action trotter Delcrest Magicstar stepped off a final quarter in :28.2 to chase down another Steacy student in Stritch and Johnathan Drury for the win in 2:01.3. Delcrest Magicstar is by Majestic Son and is owned by MacDonald, Peter Porter and Johnathan McKinnon. Magic Maddy and MacDonald rallied from 6-1/4 at three-quarters tow in the second division for trainer Steacy and owners Clarke Steacy, David McDonald, David Reid and Malik Stable. The Majestic Son filly trotted the mile in 2:03.1. The dynamic duo of MacDonald and Steacy struck again in the third division to score the hat trick with a wire-to-wire win with Ticket To Seattle. The Majestic Son offspring set fractions of :30.1, 1:01.2, 1:31.1 for a mile time of 2:01.1 for owners Landmark 9 racing Stable, Hudson Standardbred Stable and David Reid. Angora Seelster and Bob McClure won the fourth division of OSS fillies as she opened up down the lane for a four-length victory in 2:00.4. The Holiday Road filly is owned by Alot Of Sense Stable, Lyons Brothers Stable and Jessica Breese Karn and trained by Chris Matthews. Driving legend Dave Wall opened the card of racing with a training mile to celebrate 250 Years of Horse Racing in Canada. Wall has won over 7,200 races lifetime and over C$60 million in purses and was a dominant fixture at Dresden Raceway in the early 1980’s with Pro Fighter and drove other greats like Staff Director, Odies Fame and Goodtimes. Dresden Raceway celebrated Canada Day by giving out small Canadian flags, T-shirts, hats and having an 8ft Cake decorated like a Canadian flag. Over 1,000 people were in attendance today and they bet a total handle of C$29,103.

Saratoga Raceway

Big N Bad (Badlands Hanover) toughed out a first-over journey to score in the Saturday night (July 1) Open Pace at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The Buzzy Sholty-trained pacer wound up moving to the outside of longshot leader Race Me Rocky (Phil Fluet) heading to the half in the $13,000 Open. Big N Bad fought gamely in a third quarter that was paced in :27.2 before wearing down the leader. After surging into command, Big N Bad was met with the challenge of the favored Givenupdreaming (Frank Coppola Jr.) before holding off that bid and stopping the timer in 1:51.3 over a track labeled ‘sloppy.’ Givenupdreaming came up second best while Stevensville (Mark Beckwith) earned the show spot. Big N Bad, who was piloted to the win by Wally Hennessey, paid $19.40 to win and led an exacta and triple that came back $81.50 and $373.50, respectively. Hennessey, who won the driving title at Pompano Park in Florida this year, has made a big impact upon returning to the Spa. The Hall of Famer piloted five winners on the Saturday card. Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon with a matinee set to begin at 12:15 p.m.

Running Aces

On the Saturday night (July 1) harness racing program at Running Aces, Ya U Bet Cha posted a very sharp winning effort from off the pace in a $4,000 conditioned pacing event.The 9-year-old gelding by Heavenly Favored settled away in sixth position off the gate from post 6 in the 8 horse contest and Driver Dean Magee then picked up second-over cover before the half-mile marker and then waited patiently for the stretch drive. As the field turned for home, he sent his charge firing down the center of the track to get up in the final stride over Holllyrock Heyden (Steve Wiseman) in a very sharp mile of 1:53, with pace-setter Rusty Carter (Nick Roland) finishing third. Ya U Bet Cha ($14.80) posted a final quarter kick of :27.3 to get the narrow victory. Tonight’s tally was his second win this season in 8 starts for the classy campaigner who has earned $136,358, and is owned and trained by Wendy Haberberg. Letinthenightroll ($3.20) delivered as the favorite with Driver Luke Plano to win the night’s $6,400 featured trotting event in 1:59, to make it 4 wins in 6 starts this year for the 4-year-old mare by Sos Lunar Eclipse, she is owned and trained by Jenni King. Dean Magee led all drivers on Saturday with 2 wins on the program. The next card of live harness racing goes to post on Sunday night (July 2) at 6 p.m. CT. Running Aces will have a special Monday card of live racing this coming Monday (July 3) with a first race post of 5 p.m. CT.