PV Miracle Mary tops Tuesday feature at Running Aces

Columbus, MN — The Tuesday evening (July 16) program at Running Aces featured the weekly Mares Open Handicap Pace, with this week’s edition drawing a field of nine vying for a purse of $16,000.

Pull The Shade (Dean Magee) was sent off as the heavy favorite at 4-5 in the wagering from post five while Delightfully Wild (Nick Roland) was a clear second choice at 7-2.

PV Miracle Mary paced away from the field in the $16,000 Tuesday feature at Running Aces with a 1:53.1 mile. Dee Leftwich photo.

Delightfully Wild was fastest from the gate and established a quick early lead through a sharp opening quarter of :27.2, and led the field through the middle stages with a second quarter breather of :56.3 and a quick third panel in 1:24.1 with Cenalta Diamond (Tim Maier) on the first-over attack and Place’n First (Steve Wiseman) locked in the pocket.

Delightfully Wild made a break just past the three-quarters, which bothered Place’n First and Alwaysalittlemore. Emerging from the pack was PV Miracle Mary (Rick Magee) who was able to steer clear of trouble and had plenty of pace for the stretch drive, getting past Cenalta Diamond for the win by 1-3/4 lengths with Pull The Shade getting up for second and Cenalta Diamond home in third in the 1:53.1 mile.

The Tuesday feature victory was the second score in eight season’s starts for PV Miracle Mary, who now has 21 career wins and $93,048 in the bank for owner Joe Casagranda. Rick Magee is the winning trainer.

It was a big night at Running Aces for the Kathie Plested-Wiseman stable, picking up four wins and one second in six trips to the starting gate. Kathie is the defending champion trainer for the past two seasons at Running Aces, and has also won the training title at Cal Expo in both of the last two meets in northern California. Kathie currently sits atop the list of trainers at Running Aces along with Tim Maier, each with 23 wins.

Owner Benvenga Racing had a huge night out of the Plested-Wiseman barn, going a perfect three-for-three on the Tuesday card as Platinum Time ($7.20, Steve Wiseman), The Gobye Girl ($7.00, Steve Wiseman) and Timetoplaythegame ($12.80, Steve Wiseman) all scored victories for the longtime owner and patron of the Plested-Wiseman stable.

Drivers Dean Magee and Steve Wiseman led the program with three winners each.

The Tuesday card was a pari-mutuel bonanza for some lucky patrons, with huge payouts in many of the evening’s key wagers. The 20-cent Pick-5 Jackpot was hit for $7,783.82 and the 50-cent Hi-5 in the final race returned a hefty $9,425.50.

Live racing returns to Running Aces on Saturday night (July 20) to kick off the meet’s signature weekend of the summer, Dan Patch weekend. There are two big races on Saturday, the $25,000 Ron Banks Pace and the $25,000 Vernon Devine Trot, and then on Sunday (July 21) Running Aces hosts the main event of the season, the $50,000 Dan Patch FFA Pace. Post time for both nights is 6 p.m. (CDT).

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