Columbus, MN – The Tuesday night (Sept. 9) harness racing program at Running Aces was a night of thrilling finishes, with five of nine contests decided by one length or less and a pair of near dead heats.
The $17,000 Open Handicap pace was the setting for one of the closest finishes of the night and went to post with a very talented field of six contenders with stablemates Spiritofanoutlaw (Brady Jenson, 4-5) and Speaking Volumes (Rick Magee, 7-5) being sent off as the clear favorites.
Tankalicious (Scott Cisco) was fast off the car from the inside draw before Speaking Volumes surged from the outside to quickly take the top before the fast :26.4 quarter mile, relegating Tankalicious to the pocket while I’m A Skoldier (Luke Plano) got away in third and Spiritofanoutlaw traveled in fourth early.
Speaking Volumes was a comfortable leader through the middle stages of the contest, posting fractions of :56.1 and 1:24.3 while Spiritofanoutlaw began a first-over grind and Mac’s Marvel (Billy Mann) and Alilthundadownunda (Brian Detgen) both tried the outer flow.
As they rounded for home, Spiritofanoutlaw began to close in stoutly on Speaking Volumes who dug in gamely for the final sixteenth of a mile. Those two provided a scintillating battle to the wire, which resulted in a lengthy photo finish that showed Spiritofanoutlaw had prevailed by the narrowest of margins in the 1:52 mile and the top two were four lengths clear of Tankalicious.
Both of the top two finishers are trained by Brady Jenson, while the winner, a 4-year-old by Western Trademark, is also owned by Jenson.
Spiritofanoutlaw ($3.80) now shows seven wins this season and 26 career wins with total earnings of $177,853**.
Al-Mar Flash Over (Plano, $2.20) was much the best in the $17,500 freshman filly trot, going gate-to-wire from post six in 2:01 for her seventh win from eight career starts. She checked home more than six lengths ahead of SV Shining Star and Dream In Motion. The impressive daughter of Southwind Flash is owned by Thomas and Kathy Shipley and Royal Roland and is trained by Nick Roland.
Merry Tyler Mare (Mann, $10.40) got her nose up at the wire in a thrilling finish in the $17,000 freshman filly pace in 1:59.2 over Starstruck Fool (Cisco) for her second career win for owners Bill Dessert and Edwin Quevedo, the daughter of Wind Me Up is also trained by Quevedo.
Mercy (Justin Van Otterloo, $129.40) surged inside late to capture victory in the $8,500 freshman ‘B’ pace at more than 63-1 on the board while Mr Lucky (Rene Goulet) flew home from the back of the pack at 51-1 to miss by just a head in the 2:02 mile. The winner is a daughter of Three Of Clubs and is also owned and trained by Van Otterloo. The winning exacta of 5-8 returned a healthy $1,275.80 for every $2 wager.
Brady Jenson led the program with both a driving and training double, while Rick Magee posted a driving double.
Live racing returns to Running Aces on Thursday night (Sept. 11) for an 11-race program with first post at 6 p.m. (CDT).
** Editors please note: the career earnings noted here for Spiritofanoutlaw are CORRECT, however, there is Minnesota bonus money that needs to be added by the USTA for this most recent start.