Columbus, MN – The Thursday night (July 10) harness racing program at Running Aces featured the $14,750 Mares Open pace with a well-matched field of eight distaffers lining up behind the gate.
Ideal Skies, despite posting a sharp win last week at 23-1 in the $42,750 Ron Banks Memorial in 1:52.1, and despite drawing the rail this week, was again dismissed by the public at just under 12-1.
Driver Luke Plano got the 4-year-old daughter od American Ideal away quickly and secured the pocket while Lloyd’s Loves (Rick Magee) took the top and did all the heavy lifting through fractions of :27.3, :56.4 and 1:24.2 with Overthemoonforyou (Aaron Lehman) coming first over and Twist Little Girl N chasing her cover during the middle stages.
Rounding for home Overthemoonforyou began to lose steam and Ideal Skies emerged from the pocket while Kele Kele (Brady Jenson) also shook free from third at the pylons.
Lloyd’s Loves dug in gamely and fought hard against Ideal Skies but was nosed out at the wire by the latter in the 1:52.4 mile with Kele Kele getting home third.
Ideal Skies ($25.80) now shows seven wins from 19 starts this year for owner Friendship Stables and trainer Maria Alvarez.
Minnesota-sired sophomore pacers were also in the spotlight on Thursday, with $42,500 in purses offered across three divisions.
Tutto Bene (Karpathian Kid) and driver Mooney Svendsen made a backstretch move to the top and never looked back to post a one-length tally in a career best 1:54.3 mile in the $17,000 colts pace. Swinging On By (Dean Magee) was second best and longshot Yellowstone Kid (Scott Cisco) was third.
Tutto Bene now shows four career wins for owner/trainer Lino Pacheco and additional owner Ron Rettig-Zucchi. The win mutuel was $18.20.
Miss May Bell (Karpathian Kid, $4.80) and driver Brady Jenson made it two in a row over stablemate Mele Kalikimaka (Rick Magee) in the $17,000 filly pace in 1:55.3 while Skooch’s Valentine (Cisco) checked home in third.
It was the third career win from four career starts for Miss May Bell. The top two finishers are owned by Merlin Van Otterloo and trained by Brett Ballinger.
The $8,500 sophomore ‘B’ division went to Wind Me Up Blue (Cisco, $5.60) for a new career mark in 1:56.3 for owner/trainer Rick Cisco and additional owner Tamara Wainscott.
Nick Roland led the program with his second straight four-win night while Josiah Miller posted an owner/trainer/driver double and Luke Plano posted a driving double. Trainers Lino Pacheco and Bob Lems also had two wins each.
Live racing returns to Running Aces on Sunday (July 13) with a 12-race program, Post time on Sunday is 6 p.m. (CDT).