by Darin Gagne, for Running Aces Casino & Racetrack

Columbus, MN — The most impressive performance on the Tuesday evening (June 6) program at Running Aces came in a $6,000 conditioned event.

Dee Leftwich photo

PV Miracle Mary scored in a track record time of 1:52.2.

It was PV Miracle Mary, a 4-year-old pacing mare by Dragon Again, who blasted from the gate from post one to protect the pylon position in a hotly contested opening quarter of :26, staving off a furious battle from Blue Gem (William Hernandez) who hounded the leader through the first five-eighths of the mile before eventually tiring and finishing well back.

Owner/trainer/driver Joe Casagranda kept his mare to task through the remaining fractions in :55.4 and 1:23.3 and they held off the rest of her foes in :28.4 to win by a solid 2-1/2 length margin and take her place in the Running Aces record books after completing the mile in 1:52.2.

The previous mark for 4-year-old pacing mares was established in 2011 by Little Tootsie with Dean Magee in tow (1:53).

PV Miracle Mary paid $4.60 to her pari-mutuel backers and she now shows nine lifetime wins in just 24 starts and has earned $31,650. She is also owned by David Kuzara.

Second in the record mile was Cruzin Coco (Dean Magee) and Place’N First (Rick Magee) was home in third.

The $11,000 feature on the night was the Mares Open Pace and Best Of Jenna ($5.40) did not disappoint her fans as she posted another brilliant gate-to-wire tally in 1:52.3 for her third straight victory at the top mares level at Running Aces.

Stable Eyes (Luke Plano) sat in the pocket behind Best Of Jenna and charged at her through the lane, but came up just short at the wire, with Shark Festival (Steve Wiseman) picking up third money.

The winner is trained and driven by Rick Magee and owned by Dr. Ken and Jana Lee Rucker.

Nick Roland led all drivers with a triple on the 11-race program.

The next card of live harness racing at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack will go to post on Saturday night (June 10) at 6 p.m. (CDT), with a carryover in the 20-cent Jackpot Pick-5 wager of $6,938.18.