from Running Aces

Columbus, MN — The classy mare Show Runner paced the second fastest mile in the eight-year history of Running Aces on Tuesday night (July 7), eclipsing the track record for females by better than a full second with her 1:51 clocking. The 5-year-old daughter of Little Steven, owned by Piece Of The Action LLC, was facing all male competition in the featured $8,000 Open I Handicap that kicked off the program with a bang.

Leftwich photo

Show Runner and driver Tim Maier set a new distaff track record at Running Aces, winning the $8,000 Open Pace in 1:51.

Driver Tim Maier had Show Runner in gear early, leaving alertly to the lead before yielding to last week’s winner, Headsup Yankee (Nick Roland), just before the :27.2 quarter. An early move by Chewy Baca (Gerry Longo), the eventual show finisher, flushed Show Runner from the pocket early and she sped back to the front at the :55 halfway station.

Still showing her heels to the field, the George Reider trainee tripped the three-quarter beam in 1:22.2, then glided through a closing :28.3 panel to hold off Headsup Yankee by a length in the track record clocking.

It was the 38th win in just 70 lifetime starts for Show Runner and increased her career bankroll to $230,350.

Quality Sport (Steve Wiseman) pulled a mild upset in the $7,000 Open II Pace, edging Coopers Beach (Luke Plano) and Native’s Revenge (Lemoyne Svendsen) in 1:53.2. Ron and Tammy Walls own the 7-year-old black son of Sportsmaster, who returned $11.40 for a $2 win wager.

The win was Wiseman’s third on the program. His hat trick began earlier with a 2:02.1 win behind the trotter Montana Eclipse for trainer Alexia Kehl and a 1:57 score with Amos The Famous for trainer Brett Ballinger in a $5,000 mini-series championship leg for non-winners of a pari-mutuel race.

For the seventh consecutive program, the 50-cent Pick-6 went unsolved, largely due to driver Tony Succarotte’s back-to-back wins in the late daily double races (which are also the last two legs of the Pick-6). Succarotte guided Wendy Haberberg’s Ya U Bet Cha to a 1:55.1 triumph, returning $9.00 to win, then eeked out a 1:56 score with Gene Miller’s Ben N Al in the nightcap at odds of 24-1.

As a result Running Aces is estimating the Wednesday (July 8) 50-cent Pick-6 pool at $25,000. The exotic wager will be based on races three through eight on the card that begins at 7 p.m. (CDT).