from harness publicists across North America

Tuesday’s (Aug. 18) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Saratoga Casino and Raceway and Running Aces.

ABC Muscles Boy captures Saratoga Open

Saratoga Springs, NY — ABC Muscles Boy (ABC Garland) pulled off an upset in the Open Trot at Saratoga Casino and Raceway on Tuesday night.

Melissa Simser photo

ABC Muscles Boy was a 1:55.1 winner in the Open Trot.

The 4-year-old trotter finished fourth in his lone local try in the trotting feature back in June and returned to the Spa to compete in Tuesday’s $18,000 Open.

Leading driver Bruce Aldrich Jr. piloted for trainer David Russo and sat patiently on the rail with the 11-1 outsider before finding late life in the passing lane. ABC Muscles Boy surged up the pylons and scored in 1:55.1, getting by fellow longshot Lucid Thoughts (John MacDonald) who finished second while Slugfest (Jay Randall) came on for third.

It was the sixth victory of the season for the young trotter who returned $24.20 to win and led an exacta and triple that paid $173 and $534, respectively.

Aldrich, who owns a big lead in the local driver standings this year, piloted four winners on the card.

Live racing continues on Wednesday night at Saratoga with a first post time set for 7:05 p.m.

— Mike Sardella

Running Aces
Quality Sport pulled a mild upset in the $9,600 Open Pace at Running Aces on Tuesday night, besting Thebestofjoel (Tim Maier) and Headsup Yankee (Nick Roland) in 1:54.4 over a rain-soaked racing strip. Driver Steve Wiseman elected to sit fourth in the seven-horse field through the first half, then secured the second-over position behind Bunkerhill Bill (Gerry Longo) until the top of the stretch where he swung widest of all to the one length victory. It was the 16th lifetime triumph for the 7-year-old Sportsmaster gelding, owned by Ronald and Tammy Wells. The feature race win was one of three on the program for Wiseman, which pushed him back into a slim lead in the Running Aces dash derby, 56-55, over Roland. There are 14 programs remaining in the 2015 summer meet which runs through Sept. 12.