Columbus, MN – Driver Luke Plano orchestrated a perfect trip in the $14,750 featured Mares Open pace at Running Aces on Thursday night (July 3) to pull off a 12-1 upset win with Premier Desirey.
Plano sent the 8-year-old daughter of Real Desire away quickly from the inside draw and let Overthemoonforyou (Aaron Lehman) take the top spot and set the fractions of :27.3, :56.2 and 1:24 while Crazy Cute (Mooney Svendsen) tracked from third and Majors Miracle (Rick Magee) came first-up.
Majors Miracle provided pressure to the leader through the middle stages and was still a threat at the top of the lane while Overthemoonforyou kept going strong, but Premier Desirey was loaded in the pocket and shook free inside and charged to the wire.
Premier Desirey ($27.80) got home first in 1:52.1 and was three-quarters of a length ahead of Overthemoonforyou. Majors Miracle was able to hold third over an oncoming Crazy Cute.
The winner is owned by Harold Herrera and is trained by Bob Johnson along with assistant Jose Herrera. She now shows four wins this season and 11 career wins, with total earnings of $70,814.
Swinging On By (Karpathian Kid) made it two in a row in the $17,000 Minnesota-sired sophomore colt pace with a 3-3/4 length victory over Blazin For Life and The Minnesota Kid in 1:55. Dean Magee was the winning pilot for owner/trainer Brett Ballinger and additional owner Darren Taylor. The win mutuel was $2.20.
Miss May Bell (Brady Jenson, $9.40) posted a career best mile to capture the $17,000 sophomore filly pace by a neck in 1:55 over stablemate Mele Kalikimaka with Skooch’s Valentine third. It was just the third career start and second win for the daughter of Karpathian Kid. The top two finishers are owned by Merlin Van Oterloo and trained by Brett Ballinger.
Watch Over Us Mimi (Nick Roland, $8.80) achieved her first career win in the $8,500 sophomore ‘B’ pace in 2:00.3 for owners Van Oterloo Stables and trainer Bob Lems while Seventy One Forty and DM Magic Player rounded out the top three.
Thursday’s leaders were Rick Magee with a driving triple, Scott Cisco with a driving double and Brett Ballinger and Bob Lems each had training doubles.
Live racing action returns to Running Aces on Sunday night (July 6) with a 12-race program that will feature a carryover of $6,060.23 for the 50-cent Hi-5 wager in race four. Post time on Sunday is 6 p.m. (CDT).