by Darin Gagne, for Running Aces

Columbus, MN — The Tuesday night (July 3) card at Running Aces was loaded with exciting and competitive races and the $11,000 Mares Open Handicap Pace was no exception.

A talented field of six went to battle for weekly top honors. The talk of the toteboard was Whatitdo Babyboo (Steve Wiseman), who was sent off as the 3-2 favorite after an impressive season’s debut third last week at this top level. Second choice at 2-1 was Kiss On The Lips (Nick Roland), who has already recorded two wins at the current meet, and also heavily backed was Delightfully Wild (Lemoyne Svendsen) at 5-2.

Nick Roland fired up Kiss On The Lips to be fast off the gate and charging hard from her outside six post, but Delightfully Wild was also pacing strong in the opening stages, and Kiss On The Lips would have to settle for the pocket.

Abbijade Hanover (Rick Magee) floated out in fourth position on the outside but could not find a seat at the pylons and was forced to press the pace and try to clear the leader; that resulted in a very fast :26.4 opening fraction. The battle at the top continued for more than a half-mile (:55.4 and 1:24.2) and eventually took its toll on the first-over challenger. The leader, however, appeared to get stronger as the race got longer and widened her lead around the final bend.

Whatitdo Babyboo had rallied three-wide into the final turn to take over second and Kiss On The Lips was third along the pylons. Delightfully Wild ($7.20) paced strong in the lane to keep everyone at bay and recorded a solid two length tally in 1:52.

She is owned by Richard Morita and David Yamada and trained by Jessie Pacheco. Tuesday night’s victory was the ninth win in 19 starts for the 5-year-old daughter of Bettor’s Delight.

The $12,500 top-level claiming handicap pace ($12,500-$15,000 tags) went to Hard Cold Cash (Dean Magee) once again for three wins in a row, the last two in 1:52.2, and both in gate-to-wire fashion. Hard Cold Cash ($3.20) is a talented 6-year-old stallion by Dali, owned by Antonia Storer and trained by Denise Maier.

Drivers Nick Roland and Lemoyne (Mooney) Svendsen both picked up driving doubles on the card.

The 20-cent Pick-5 jackpot has a carryover of $2,380.42 for Saturday night (July 7).

Coming up on Sunday (July 8) Running Aces will host the eliminations for the $95,000 (total) Dan Patch Free-For-All Pacing Series sponsored by Watch and Wager. The top five finishers in each elimination will advance to the Dan Patch Preview Pace (July 15) and the $50,000 Dan Patch FFA final (July 22).