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Tuesday’s (Aug. 11) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Saratoga Casino and Raceway and Running Aces.

Red Hot Herbie captures Saratoga Open

Saratoga Springs, NY — Red Hot Herbie (Here Comes Herbie) recorded his third Open Trot victory of the season at Saratoga Casino and Raceway on Tuesday night.

Melissa Simser photo

Red Hot Herbie was a 1:55.1 winner in the Open Trot.

The Rene Allard-trained 5-year-old made a rare early move in the $18,000 feature and landed on the lead for driver Billy Dobson. Red Hot Herbie, who won the Yonkers Open two starts back, came into Tuesday’s tilt having hit the board in 10 of his 15 seasonal tries and held strong on the engine to prevail in 1:55.1. Jimmer (Phil Fluet), the winner of back-to-back Opens heading into Tuesday’s feature, closed from last to finish second while longshot invader Lucid Thoughts (John MacDonald) earned the show spot.

Red Hot Herbie returned $7.00 to win and led the exacta with Jimmer that paid $29.20. The triple in the six horse feature returned $183.50.

Allard and Dobson, who teamed up for a win in Saturday night’s Open Pace with Sparky Mark, recorded their seventh victory of the 2015 campaign in the local Open Trot.

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

— Mike Sardella

Running Aces
Chewy Baca (Travis Bowman) captured his third straight Open Pace on Tuesday night at Running Aces, working hard to get to the front in a :27 first quarter from an assigned outside post position, then holding off Thebestofjoel (Tim Maier) by a head in 1:52.4. It was Chewy Baca’s 33rd career victory, but third for current owner Dr. James Findlay, who claimed the 6-year-old gelding for $15,000 less than a month ago. The winner’s share of the $9,600 purse pushed Chewy Baca’s lifetime bounty past the $150,000 plateau. Local favorite Linkjack Hanover, a 3-year-old colt owned and trained by Jeff Ryan, finished a game third in the featured mile, just 1-1/4 lengths behind at the wire. A pair of $8,000 races restricted to 2-year-old Minnesota-sired trotters were also contested on the card. The filly division went to favored RSS Express (Duane Roland), who topped Whatevershesgot (Jenni King) and Hall Of Riches (Tim Maier) in 2:03.4. The freshman daughter of Rail Splitter now has a pair of Running Aces victories to go with one win and three place finishes at Iowa fairs. She is owned by Duane and Connie Roland. Margin’s Echo (Rick Magee) notched his fourth rookie season triumph in seven tries, defeating the colts in 2:04.3 for owner Mikaela Delgiudice. The son of Abra lead the field throughout and trotted an impressive :59.3 back half to top Mr Jackpot (Dean Magee) by a half-length with The Winnin Dollar (Steve Wiseman) garnering the show dough. Driver Tony Succarotte scored the only double with seven other drivers each getting a single win on the nine-race program. Succarotte visited the winner’s circle with Velvet Knight, who won a $3,600 non-winners of one pace for owner-trainer Dave Carter and Prana, who demolished a $3,600 conditioned class by eight lengths in 1:53.4 for trainer-lessee Patricia Minella.