Racing Roundup: Ranger Gus scores in Hal Belote Series at Ocean Downs
August 3, 2011,from harness publicists across North America
Wednesday’s (August 3) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Ocean Downs, Running Aces and Saratoga Casino and Raceway. Ranger Gus scores in Hal Belote Series at Ocean Downs Berlin, MD — The second leg of the Hal Belote Memorial Trotting Series for horses and geldings was raced Wednesday night at Ocean Downs. Driver John Wagner drove Ranger Gus in 2:00.1 to win the $6,000 leg of the series for horses and geldings. Ranger Gus is trained by D W Camac and is owned by Susan Camac. The winner is a 4-year-old gelding by Dukes Ranger-Ipayutuesday. — Nick Pappas Running Aces Saratoga Casino and Raceway
Candy Is Dandy, a 4-year-old Revenue S mare, beat a full field of the best Open trotters in Minnesota on Wednesday night, lowering her own divisional track record for older females. Driver Rick Magee let the relatively green trotting mare settle in third from her inside starting position and shadowed favored Rompaway Brandon (Dan Maier) and longshot Vyce (Evan Coblentz) until the top of the stretch. Cruising through fractions of :28.1, :58 and 1:27.4 the winner was content to wait for the inside passing lane with less than an eighth of a mile to go. At that point, Candy Is Dandy was yanked to the left after passing the last pylon and although it was just her 21st lifetime start, she responded like a veteran who had done it a million times, zooming past the pair of frontrunners for a 1:57.3 score. Trainer Ulf Johansen co-owns Candy Is Dandy with his wife Susan. Driver Lemoyne Svendsen shared the spotlight by recording three wins on the nine-race program. After sweeping the early daily double with trotter Greenback and pacer Minnesofia, “Moonie” captured the nightcap with pacer Saabs Sibling A. Little Tootsie returned to her winning ways in a $6,500 Open mares pace, winning in 1:54 for leading driver Dean Magee. Although the 4-year-old Minnesota-sired mare was narrowly defeated last week, she has now won four out of five starts against the best distaffers racing at Running Aces. Castle Oaks (Dan Maier) was just a neck back at the wire with Dawn’s Mist (Will Roland) garnering the show dough.
Maximum Bet was up to task on Wednesday night at Saratoga Casino and Raceway. The Margaret Spagnola trained pacing mare has been a consistent force for a few years at Saratoga but this season had yet to record a victory heading into the evening’s ninth race while remaining a factor in the majority of her starts. Coming into the night, Maximum Bet (Bettor’s Delight) had hit the board in nine of 17 tries while going winless on the campaign. That changed on Wednesday as the 7-year-old lasted on the lead, holding off a host of late challengers en route to a lifetime best victory, stopping the timer in 1:54.4. The favorite Fiesta Camcun (Jim Devaux) closed for second in the stretch while longshot Durable (Henry Westbrook III) came on to finish third. Maximum Bet’s regular driver Jay Randall was at the controls for the victory in the $7,500 event for conditioned/claiming pacers. Dan Cappello, Jr. was the night’s driving star as the Saratoga veteran added four wins to his hefty 2011 total.