from harness publicists across North America

Saturday’s (Sept. 12) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Running Aces, Vernon Downs, Saratoga Casino and Raceway and Tioga Downs.

Curtain falls on Running Aces eighth season

Columbus, MN — A total of eleven Minnesota State Champions were crowned Saturday night (September 12) on closing night of the 2015 Running Aces season. A total of $201,000 in purse money was distributed in eight $21,000 championships for each of the divisions for 2 & 3 year old pacers and trotters. An additional three $11,000 divisions featured older state-bred pacers, divided by sex, and the best aged trotters in Minnesota.

Cruzin Coco (Steve Wiseman), owned by Ron Emerson and trained by Mark Holtan, captured the 2-year-old filly pace in 1:57.2, besting American Dancer (Luke Plano) and Fancy Little Girl (Dean Magee). It was the fourth seasonal victory for the half-sister to Restless Yankee and increased her freshman season bankroll to $26,100.

Relentless Spirit (Luke Plano) was crowned 3-year-old filly pace queen with an open-lengths 1:55.3 score over Moonshinenmonkeys (Tim Maier) and Queen Of Denial (Nick Roland). The winning daughter of Relentless Yankee notched the second win of her sophomore campaign and increased her earnings to $20,231 for owner Edward Gutin and trainer Bob Lems.

Place N First (Steve Wiseman) was best in the contest pitting the best older pacing mares. The race favorite flew home the last three-eighths of a mile to score in 1:53.1 over Flick A Fly (Rick Magee) and Place At The Beach (Gerry Longo). Jenni King both owns and trains the Place To Be, a 6-year-old mare who now has 18 wins and $106,738 in lifetime bankroll.

Stuckey Dote (Tim Maier) downed Swagasaurusrex (Steve Wiseman) and Dag For Gold (Duane Roland) in 1:56.2 to garner the 2-year-old pacing colts laurels. The black son of Voracious Hanover now sports an impressive 7-2-0 line in nine lifetime starts. He has earned $35,460 in his rookie season for owner-trainer Merlin Van Otterloo.

Toatsmygoats (Rick Magee) didn’t disappoint as the odds-on favorite in the sophomore pacing colts split. The Relentless Yankee gelding, owned by Van Otterloo Stables and trained by Dave Flinn, topped Whatchyastarinat (Gerry Longo) and Gooch’s Hot Rod (Dean Magee) to successfully defend his freshman season state championship. The winner is now credited with 11 wins in 20 career starts and earnings of $79,010.

Chewy Baca (Travis Bowman) clocked the quickest mile of the evening with a 1:52.3 score in the nightcap for older pacing horses. Headsup Yankee (Nick Roland) finished just a head behind, with It’s Getting Hairy (Steve Wiseman) garnering the show dough. Chewy Baca, one of the winningest Minnesota-breds ever, now has 35 victories and earnings of $165,821 as a 6-year-old of Relentless Yankee. Owner Dr. James Findlay entrusts the training duties to Sean Lancaster, whose stable is now headed for Fraser Downs in western Canada.

RSS Express (Duane Roland) was best in the trotting fillies freshman class, downing Hall Of Riches (Tim Maier) and Watevershesgot (Jenni King) in 2:04.2. The Rail Splitter daughter has put together an outstanding first season with five wins, five seconds and one third place finish in 11 starts—good for earnings of $35,125 thus far. Driver Duane Roland co-owns the winner with wife Connie.

Becky Badger Baby (Nick Roland), as expected, was an impressive 2:01.1 winner in the sophomore lasses trotting division, beating Texakota (Lemoyne Svendsen) and Marisa’s Lady (Tim Maier). Owned by Dale Hein in partnership with Royal and Barbara Roland, the Rail Splitter lass has 21 wins in 32 starts over her first two seasons and with the win now has banked $99,983, including back-to-back Minnesota State Championships.

Mr Jackpot (Dean Magee) continued his winning ways with a 2:00.3 triumph in the frosh trotters split to kick off the program. The chestnut son of Rail Splitter was over three lengths better than Big Red Rail (Duane Roland) and Margin’s Echo (Rick Magee) to notch his fifth win in nine tries and increase his earnings to $33,410. The son of Money Talks is owned by Glen Wilson, trainer Brett Ballinger and Carl Swanson. His full sister will race for the same connections next year after they forked over $13,000 for her at the recent Minnesota yearling sale.

Go See Lo Go (Nick Roland) proved best in the 3-year-old male trotters section, holding off Al-Mar Skip-Bo (Rick Magee) and Drakensberg (Luke Plano) in 2:00.4. The Lorenzo Gooch-owned Rail Splitter son has 15 career trips to the winner’s circle and has banked $84,698 in his first two racing seasons.

French Eclipse (Gerry Longo) was an upset winner for owner-trainer Jenni King, taking full advantage of a break in stride by favored Al-Mar Pizzazz to best Switcheroo (Rick Magee) and One Bad Cookie (Tony Succarotte) in 1:58.4. The 5-year-old son of Lunar Eclipse sports a dozen victories in 59 lifetime starts, good for $74,827 in earnings.

With both Nick Roland and Steve Wiseman notching driving doubles on the final 2015 program, Roland won the hard-fought season-long back-and-forth battle for the dash crown by a 76 to 73 margin. Tim Maier, Luke Plano and Gerry Longo rounded out the top five.

On the trainer’s side, Nick Roland was an easier winner capturing 51 races from his stable and banking well over $250,000 on the season.

— Running Aces

Vernon Downs
Following the live cover of Oh My Joepa off the far turn, No Monkeys Allowed ($7.40) vaulted to a two-length victory in Saturday (September 12) evening’s featured $7,000 top-level conditioned pace at Vernon Downs. Mike Merton settled the 8-year-old Rocknroll Hanover gelding into midfield, 5-1/4 lengths off pacesetter Lilys Real Boy (Dan Daley) through a :26 initial quarter. Upon exiting the far turn, No Monkeys Allowed advanced nearer the front flight while tracking the cover of Oh My Joepa (John MacDonald), kicking to the fore in upper stretch. No Monkeys Allowed drew off to a 1:52 victory by way of a :27.2 final quarter, edging clear of Oh My Joepa while 6-5 favorite Gratias Deo (Chris Lems) could only muster a third-place finish despite having the winner’s cover to follow. Edgar “Sparky” Clarke trains No Monkeys Allowed for owner Robert Orr. The win in the featured event was one of three on the 11-race card for Merton, who teamed up with another Clarke trainee in Wheels Ah Smokin ($14.00, 1:58.1) along with Rob Harmon trainee Nathan Feelsgood ($8.50, 1:52.3).

Saratoga Casino and Raceway
For just the second time in track history, there was a triple dead-heat for win on Saturday (Sept. 12) night at Saratoga Casino and Raceway. The three-way tie came in the evening’s $18,000 featured Open Pace and was the result of a scramble in the stretch. Longshot Spinarama (Austin Siegelman) was parked to the half in 53.2 over a sloppy track, and despite racing overland throughout lap one dug in and drew clear midway through the stretch. The 12-1 shot Spinarama was then met with challenges of rivals Panocchio (Gerry Mattison) and Burkentine Hanover (Stephane Bouchard). The three top flight pacers hit the wire at the same time in 1:52.2 and the race was declared a three-way dead-heat. Spinarama, undaunted by his tough journey in the feature, earned his fourth win of the season in the Open. For Panocchio is was victory number five in the Saturday feature this year while Burkentine Hanover got his picture taken for the second straight week after scoring in the local Open for the first time last Saturday night. The only other three-way dead-heat to occur at Saratoga came on a President’s Day matinee card in 2008 when three trotters hit the line at the same time in the afternoon’s finale.

Tioga Downs
While steady rain in the Southern Tier made for sloppy going by the end of Saturday (September 12) evening’s 10-race card, the spirits of those backing Jim Marohn, Jr. were anything but dampened by his six-win performance on the Closing Night program at Tioga Downs. The “Mighty Mite Part Two” reeled off five wins in the first six races, teaming up with Take Charge Karl ($3.50, 1:55.2), Smellthecolornine ($5.50, 1:54.4), Race Me Rocky ($15.00, 1:54.2), Bugger Bruiser ($17.80, 1:52.1), and Ruthless Ace ($5.50, 1:55.1). In the closing race of the season, a co-featured $14,000 Open Trot, Marohn wasted no time taking charge with Swishnflick ($6.10), sprinting clear of Lutetium (Corey Braden) early on and edging away from a first-over challenge by B Yoyo (Joe Bongiorno) at the top of the stretch. The 5-year-old Kadabra mare beat the boys by four lengths in 1:55 over sloppy going, with Bourbon Bay (John Cummings, Jr.) emerging from traffic to just nab Lutetium for second. Arthur Green trains Swishnflick for owner Kenneth Westerside. The other featured event on the evening’s card, a $14,000 Mares Open Pace, saw Arodasi ($9.90) sustain a first-over move out of midfield, working clear of pacesetter and odds-on favorite Icommandmyspirit (Cummings) in mid-stretch while holding sway of pocket rival Southwind Trini (Marohn) for a 1:53.2 victory. Mike Simons handled the driving duties of the 6-year-old Western Terror mare for owner-trainer Joe Pavia, Jr. and co-owners Peter Shank, Joseph Barbera, and the AGC Stables.