from Running Aces Harness Park
Columbus, MN — Restless won his fifth consecutive race at Running Aces on Tuesday night (August 16), including a clean sweep of the four-leg Four Kings series for male pacers.
In the $7,500 championship leg, trainer-driver Evan Coblentz was content to get away seventh in the early going, but didn’t wait long after the :27.1 opening quarter to begin his overland assault on the eight other finalists. Coblentz was content to sit second over behind Meet Me In Maui during the second quarter, then exploded (“in the blink of an eye,” as track announcer Peter Galassi described it) past not only his cover but also frontrunner Jive Turkey to open a five length lead by the 1:25.1 three-quarter marker. From there it was just a matter of how wide the final margin would be as Restless coasted through a :30.4 final panel to still win by 8-1/2 lengths in a lifetime best 1:56.
Restless is owned by Kenneth and Jana Lee Rucker and the 4-year-old son of Jenna’s Beach Boy has now won half of his 12 lifetime starts.
A Minnesota-sired race for older trotters was also carded on Tuesday night with DJ French Baby (Rick Magee) winning for the third consecutive week. The nice 4-year-old Dem Speedy Bones mare bested her main adversary DJ Speedy Fox (Craig Banks) by 2-1/2 lengths with Nearly Rich (Brandon Jenson) getting the show dough. DJ French Baby is owned by Trot-Away Stables and trained by Dale Visnovec.
I Do It Myself, who is owned and driven by Nick Roland, wired a field of 3-year-old Minnesota-sired sophomore pacers to stamp herself as the one to beat when the top state-bred fillies gather for one of the nine $20,000 State Championship finals slated for Labor Day at Running Aces.
The Bob Lems Stable produced a pair of winners in the other two Minnesota-restricted races on the program. Dandy Di (Nick Roland) returned from the Open mares ranks to the state-bred race for older pacers and regained her winning form. She topped Gogan (Tim Maier) and Chocollicious (Lemoyne Svendsen) in a 1:55.2 romp.
I’m Blue Too (Dean Magee) won the 2-year-old event, topping Feedbag Fillie (Rick Magee) and Place N First (John De Long) in 1:58.4 just after a heavy rainstorm that delayed the start of the card by 20 minutes.
Racing resumes Wednesday night (August 17) with a 7 p.m. (CDT) post time.