Columbus MN – The Thursday night (July 31) harness racing program at Running Aces featured the top pacing mares in Minnesota with a field of seven going into battle for the $15,500 Mares Open Handicap.
Twist Little Girl N and driver Mooney Svendsen wasted no time asserting themselves, charging off the gate from post three to take command early and force the rest of the field to take a seat while posting moderate early fractions of :27.3 and :56.4.
Scorecard Dandy (Dean Magee) got away in the pocket and tracked the leader intently while JK My Girl (Nick Roland) also left quickly and then ducked in to follow the leaders from third.
Deja Vu Babyboo (Billy Mann) made a first-over bid down the backside with Ideal Skies (Brady Jenson) following the cover flow, but neither was able to draw close to the leaders.
Twist Little Girl N kept on rolling and kicked it up another notch with a :27.2 third panel to open up by two lengths near the top of the stretch. She continued going strong in the lane and dug in impressively to hold off a deep stretch bid from pocket sitter Scorecard Dandy while JK My Girl was third best.
Twist Little Girl N ($5.60) checked home three-quarters of a length ahead in the 1:51.4 mile, which was a seasonal best for the 6-year-old daughter of Vincent. She now shows three wins this season and 15 career wins for owners Dave Dobbelmann and Cathy Dessert and trainer Edwin Quevedo.
Wind Me Up Blue (Scott Cisco, $3.20), delivered another big performance for two in a row in the $16,000 sophomore boys ‘A’ pace, taking a new career mark with a 1:54.3 score over Swinging On By and Tutto Bene. The sharp son of Wind Me Up now shows four career wins from 11 starts for owner/trainer Rick Cisco and additional owner Tamara Wainscott.
Skooch’s Valentine (Dean Magee, $45.40) posted a career best 1:54.3 mile to capture glory in the $16,000 filly ‘A’ pace over Miss May Bell and Mele Kalikimaka.
The winner is by Karpathian Kid and is owned by Ron Rettig-Zucchi and trained by Lino Pacheco.
Dean Magee led the night with four driving wins while Rick Magee and Josiah Miller and trainers Elson Miller and Brett Ballinger all had doubles.
Live racing returns to Running Aces on Sunday night (Aug. 3) and will feature the re-scheduled Dan Patch FFA Pace. First post is set for 6 p.m. (CDT).