Columbus, MN — Mr Jackpot continued his impressive freshman season at Running Aces on Tuesday (Sept 1) night by capturing a 2-year-old Minnesota-sired trot in 1:59.4 track record time. The victory was the fourth in his last five starts for the son of Money Talks owned by Glen Wilson, trainer Brett Ballinger and Carl Swanson.

Driver Dean Magee was content to sit third during the :30.2 opening panel, but swept his heavily-favored charge to the front during the second-quarter mile, with the half reached in 1:00.2. A final half in :59.2 was plenty to beat Margin’s Echo (Rick Magee) by over 3-1/2 lengths with Big Red Rail (Duane Roland) edging Abra’s Momentom (Gerry Longo) for third. The winner’s share of the $8000 purse increased Mr Jackpots seasonal slate to four wins, three seconds and a third in eight starts and a bankroll of $22,910 with a $21,000 Minnesota State Championship race next up on Running Aces’ closing night September 12.

A tandem $8,000 race for state-bred freshman filly trotters went to RSS Express (Duane Roland) in a 2:02.3 romp. Roland owns the Rail Splitter filly with his wife Connie. She now sports four wins, five runnerup finishes and a show finish in ten starts resulting in $24,625 thus far in her first season. Whatevershesgot (Jenni King) and The Last Railway (Brandon Jenson) were next to cross the finish, but were no match for RSS Express.

Chewy Baca (Travis Bowman) continued his domination of the $9,600 Open Pace with his fourth win in five tries at the top level for owner Dr. James Findlay and trainer Sean Lancaster. Chewy’s 1:53 clocking put him one-half length ahead of Outlawdangruswatrs (Nick Roland) at the finish with Quality Sport (Steve Wiseman) closing to finish third.

— Greg Keidel

Saratoga Casino and Raceway
War Hero scored a victory in his local debut on Tuesday (Sept 1) night at Saratoga Casino and Raceway. The Jessica Okusko-trained trotter has been a force in the Vernon Downs Opens this summer and drew post five in his Spa debut. War Hero got away last in the six horse $18,000 feature but swooped the group after getting a third-over trip. The morning line favorite, War Hero paid $10.20 to win after besting longshot Teach Me To Bucky (Bruce Aldrich Jr) and the favored E R Ellie (Dan Cappello Jr) in 1:55. The win was the sixth of the season for the 7-year-old trotter and served as one of four winners on the night for Hall of Fame driver Wally Hennessey. On longshot night in Saratoga, War Hero led an exacta and triple that paid $106 and $314.50, respectively. Live racing continues on Wednesday night at the Spa with a first post time of 7:05 p.m.

Eaton County Fair
The Eaton County 4-H Fairgrounds in Charlotte, Michigan played host to 2-year-old and 3-year-old colt and filly action on Tuesday (September 1). Excellent weather, combined with a good race track prepared by track superintendent Randy McConnell, helped provide the fans in attendance a great afternoon of racing. Also, a big thanks to speed superintendent Karen Morehouse and race secretary Linda Jones for all of their hard work in making the race program a big success.Iwillmakeyousaywow (Manhardt-Earhart Hanover) had the fastest time for the day in winning the 3-year-old colt pace in 2:03.3. The colt is owned by Kelly Goodwin and Libby Myers with Goodwin also doing the training. Brad Kramer picked up the winning drive. The fastest trotting race of the day came in the 3-year-old colt trot when Inge (Coventry-Lula’s Lil Peanut) toured the Charlotte twice-around in 2:08.2. Brad Kramer piloted the gelding for trainer Al Tomlinson. Tomlinson also co-owns Inge with Darwin and Ann Shaver. Brad Kramer was the leading driver on the day with four wins. Darrell Wright and Kelly Goodwin each had two training wins to top that category.