Columbus, MN — Entering the Tuesday evening (Aug. 27) card at Running Aces, driver Steve Wiseman needed two wins to reach an impressive career milestone of 3,000 wins.

He picked up number 2,999 in race four, piloting Catchmeinadream ($3.00) to three wins in a row with a 2:00.4 tally in the $8,625 Minnesota-sired 2-year-old fillies Class A pace for trainer Justin Anfinson and owners Alan and Cheryl Sandbulte.

Steve Wiseman was congratulated in the winner’s circle after his 3,000th career victory. Dee Leftwich photo.

With just one more needed to hit the magic number, Wiseman wasted no time in getting the feat accomplished. He steered Hearduwhispermynam ($3.60) to his third win in a row in the $8,625 Minnesota-sired 2-year-old colt and gelding trot in 2:01.4 for owner/trainer Jenni King in race five.

Wiseman is a native of Bellingham, Wash., and makes his home base in Sacramento, Calif., where he has been among the top drivers at Cal Expo for many years. The very likeable and well-respected 51-year-old has campaigned at tracks all over North America during his 25 years in the sulky, but has settled into the circuit of Cal Expo and Running Aces for the past six years, a move that has worked out very well for him, and for his wife and head trainer, Kathleen Plested-Wiseman.

For the Wisemans, harness racing is a family affair, with daughter Tyler also contributing a lot of hard work and adding to the success of the operation. Steve has been among the top five drivers at Running Aces each year since arriving to the Minnesota driving colony and was the champion driver in both 2017, and 2018. The Plested-Wiseman stable has captured the leading trainer title for three consecutive years at Running Aces, and is poised to make that four years in a row at the completion of the current meet.

Other 2-year-old winners on the Tuesday program were Huftalookatdatfany (Dean Magee) in 2:01 in the $5,750 2-year-old fillies Class B pace; Epic Victory (Brian Detgen) in 2:09.1 in the 2-year-old fillies Class B trot; Susie’s Sister (Don Harmon) in 2:00.3 in the $8,625 2-year-old fillies Class A trot; and Bunkerhill Phil (Don Harmon) in 2:00 in the $8,625 2-year-old colt and gelding pace.

The $15,000 Mares Open Handicap Pace was the feature on the Tuesday program, with seven talented distaffers lining up for battle in this week’s edition.

Juslikeaqueen (Dean Magee) was sent off as the 4-5 favorite from post seven, and left alertly along with PV Miracle Mary (Darrell Wright) who also sprinted from the gate from post six. Those two mares were locked in battle for the lead for nearly three-quarters of the mile, with Juslikeaqueen parked out the entire way through speedy fractions of :26.4, :55.2 and 1:24.2, before waving the white flag around the far turn.

Pull The Shade (Brady Jenson) saved ground throughout and was able to collar the leader right on the finish line to score a half-length victory in 1:54, with longshot Dancingonthesand (Mooney Svendsen) picking up third.

Pull The Shade is a 5-year-old daughter of Dragon Again out of the Artsplace mare Shades Of Art, owned by Jason Maier and trained by Tim Maier. It was the fourth victory this season and 12th career tally for Pull The Shade ($10.20).

Driver Don Harmon led the program with four winners.

Live racing returns to Running Aces on Saturday (Aug. 31) at 6 p.m. (CDT) featuring a carryover in the 20-cent Pick-5 Jackpot wager of $2,836.26.