Columbus, MN — The Tuesday night (June 11) program at Running Aces featured the weekly $15,500 Open Handicap Pace, with this week’s edition drawing a field of seven talented contenders.

Mac’s Marvel (Captaintreacherous) was the talk of the toteboard at just over even money while coming into the race sporting back-to-back impressive wins in conditioned races in his first two local starts this year and fans likely also remembered that he posted three big wins and several other notable performances at the top level here last summer.

Mac’s Marvel surged in the passing lane to capture the Open Pace in 1:51.4. Nicole Tate photo.

Driver Brady Jenson floated the 5-year-old gelding away from the gate to land in fourth position from post three, while second choice Ynotthishos (Jacob Cutting) and track record holder American Dreamer (Todd Warren) battled it out for the front through fast opening fractions of :26.2 and :54.3.

Ynotthishos continued to command the proceedings and continued to pace strong on the lead while fending off a strong mid-race challenge from Juju Hanover (James Kennedy) while American Dreamer traveled in the pocket and PD The Big Easy (Mooney Svendsen) followed outside cover as they reeled off another quick panel in :28.1.

The field was stacked up behind Ynotthishos as they swung for home and the leader continued to fight hard, but Jenson had sat patiently with Mac’s Marvel and he was loaded with pace, surging into the passing lane and getting to the front quickly in mid-stretch while American Dreamer tipped outside with pace and was able to get by a very game Ynotthishos for the second spot in a thrilling stretch battle.

The timer showed 1:51.4 for the mile, establishing a seasonal mark for Mac’s Marvel ($4.20) who hit the wire one length ahead of his rivals. He now shows 16 career wins and a career bankroll of $211,409 for owners Jose Cervantes and Terrence Smith. The winner is trained by Williams Hernandez.

Drivers Jacob Cutting and Brady Jenson and trainer Ariel Alvarez all posted doubles on the Tuesday night card.

Live racing returns to Running Aces on Thursday (June 13) with an 11-race program which will get underway with first post at 6 p.m. (CDT) and will feature a pair of carryover pools: $854.20 for the 50-cent Hi-5 in race four, and $15,052.80 for the 20-cent Pick-5 Jackpot starting in race seven.