by Darin Gagne, for Running Aces Casino & Racetrack

Columbus, MN — The Sunday (June 25) card at Running Aces featured the $11,000 Open Handicap Pace for horses and geldings. This edition of the top Open Pace featured the return Roland N Rock to the Minnesota oval after a four-race stint at the Iowa fairs, during which time he built up a five-race win streak, and came into this affair looking for number six.

Dee Leftwich photo

Roland N Rock was a winner in 1:52.3.

Roland N Rock did not disappoint as he and driver Nick Roland left sharply from post six in the eight-horse contest to secure the pocket and track the leader Easy Again (Rick Magee) from that position, through very soft early fractions of :28 and :57.1. Nick Roland waited patiently as the tempo quickened after a :27.3 third quarter and the dynamic duo found clear sailing at the top of the stretch to easily power past Easy Again for the victory, completing the six pack of wins for Roland N Rock ($2.80) and completing a driving grand slam for Roland, with Ragin’s Flight (Steve Wiseman) up for third in the 1:52.3 mile.

Roland N Rock is owned and trained by Duane Roland, and also owned by Connie Roland. The Iowa superstar now sports 46 lifetime wins from his 88 starts, and has bankrolled $471,307.

The $13,000 Minnesota-sired 3-year-old trot was also a featured event, and the filly Imapixieatmidnight posted another very sharp performance as the favorite to make it two wins in a row in this event. Trainer/driver Nick Roland secured a nice position third at the rail for his filly and made a big sweeping move with her around the final turn to take command and draw away from the field, posting a 6-1/4 length tally in a new lifetime mark of 2:00.2 for Set The Pace Racing, LLC. Imapixieatmidnight ($3.20) now shows six wins in 19 career starts, and has earned $51,119.

Roland’s other wins came with his trainee I’m So Blue in 1:54.1 in race one ($4.80) and To The Limit ($15.80) in race three for trainer Rick Bertrand in 1:53.4.

Driver Steve Wiseman completed the hat trick as he collected wins with Tornado Henry ($3.60) in race two in 1:55.3 and Lodi Machette Man ($6.00) in race five in 1:54 (both for trainer Kathie Plested-Wiseman) and then steered Rockin Repeat ($3.40) to victory in 1:59.1 in race seven for trainer Lloyd Schneiderman.

Drivers Tim Maier and Luke Plano both picked up driving doubles on the Sunday card as well.

The next card of live harness racing at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack will go to post on Tuesday night (June 27) at 7 p.m. (CDT), with a carryover in the 20-cent Jackpot Pick-5 wager of $1,422.90 and a carryover for the race 11 Hi-5 wager of $1,490.01.