from harness publicists across North America

Tuesday’s (Aug. 25) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Saratoga Casino and Raceway and Running Aces.

Slugfest captures Saratoga Open

Saratoga Springs, NY — Slugfest, the most consistent trotting force at Saratoga Casino and Raceway over the past few seasons, made his return to the winner’s circle on Tuesday night.

Melissa Simser photo

Slugfest was a 1:54.3 winner in the Open Trot.

The track’s defending Trotter of the Year dominated the Open early on this season but over the past couple of months has had to settle for several seconds, a third and a few fourths.

In Tuesday’s $18,000 Open, driver Jay Randall moved the Maureen Salino trainee to the early lead and once he got there the veteran trotter dug in. Slugfest (Conway Hall) recorded his seventh victory of the season, stopping the timer in 1:54.3, a time that matched Daylon Miracle for the fastest of the year for any trotter at the Spa. Zoey De Vie (Wally Hennessey) sat the pocket to Slugfest and wound up finishing second while Can I Say (Jim Devaux) earned the show spot.

Slugfest returned $11.20 to win and led an exacta and triple that paid $51.50 and $255.50, respectively.

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

— Mike Sardella

Running Aces
Mr Jackpot (Dean Magee) came within two-fifths of a second of the divisional track record at Running Aces on Tuesday, capturing a $16,000 event for Minnesota-sired freshman trotters. The 2-year-old son of Money Talks swept to the top of the field approaching the half-mile marker, then held off late-charging RSS Express (Nick Roland) by three-quarters of a length at the finish line. Abra’s Momentom (Gerry Longo) attempted a game first-over challenge before eventually settling for the show dough. Trainer Brett Ballinger co-owns Mr Jackpot with partners Glen Wilson and Carl Swanson. The consistent colt now boasts three wins and three place finishes in just seven lifetime starts. A race later a full field of nine Open pacers competed for a purse of $9,600. Longshot Cowboy Cold (Luke Plano) used a perfect two-hole trip to narrowly defeat Chewy Baca (Travis Bowman) and Headsup Yankee (Nick Roland) in 1:53. Owned by K. C. Carvalho, the 8-year-old son of Cheyenne Rei got a late start on his 2015 campaign, but has now triumphed four times in his first ten seasonal outings. The victory put Luke Plano just a few thousand dollars short of reaching the coveted $10 million plateau in career purse earnings, a feat that could occur Wednesday night when the 35-year-old reinsman is listed to drive in seven of the eight races on the program. Wednesday’s card also features a $1,445 carryover in the track’s popular 50-cent Pick-6 wager on races three through eight. Post time for the first race is 7 p.m. (CDT).