by Darin Gagne, for Running Aces Casino & Racetrack

Columbus, MN — The Tuesday night (May 23) Running Aces harness racing card featured the $10,000 Mares Open Pace, with a talented field of seven distaffers squaring off.

Dee Leftwich photo

Best Of Jenna was a 1:54 winner in the Mares Open Pace.

The talk of the toteboard was Best Of Jenna, and with good reason, as the 5-year-old by Jenna’s Beach Boy did not disappoint her backers as she posted a one length score from post five in her 2017 debut.

Trainer/driver Rick Magee floated her quickly from the middle of the gate to the pocket early, then brushed to the lead past the :28.1 quarter and it was smooth sailing through the remaining fractions of :57 and 1:25.4. Best Of Jenna had plenty left in the tank and kicked home in :28.1 to stop the timer in 1:54 for her ninth lifetime win. She is owned by Dr. Ken and Jana Lee Rucker.

Mikeleh, an 8-year-old pacing mare by Western Ideal, posted a dazzling gate-to-wire romp (1:54.1) in a $6,000 conditioned event with driver Luke Plano aboard for trainer George Reider and owners Little Bapa LLC. The 7-1/2 length tally was the 20th lifetime win for Mikeleh, who has now bankrolled more than $328,000 lifetime.

Steve Wiseman remained white-hot on the Tuesday night card, adding another driving triple to his grand slam on Sunday and his natural hat trick on opening night. Wiseman has jumped out to a nice early lead in the drivers’ race with just three nights completed. Tuesday he scored in the opener with Listentoherheart ($8.20) then picked up a mid-card win with One Chief ($8.00) and nabbed the finale with the favorite Gravelsinmytravel ($3.40).

Live racing returns to Running Aces this coming Saturday (May 27) with a first post of 6 p.m. (CDT) with a carryover in the 20-cent Jackpot Pick-5 of $1,177.11.