Its Pacific Time made her season debut a winning one in the $11,000 feature on Thursday night (May 27) at Running Aces.
The four-year-old daughter of Its That Time was the freshman filly pacing champion in Minnesota last year, winning 12 of 15 races and $77,550. She was sent off at odds of 4-1 from post three in a compact but talented group of five distaffers.
Rick Magee, who has been her regular Aces pilot, was in the bike and settled her away from the gate in third while favourite Oneida Blue Chip (Mooney Svendsen) set fractions of :28.3 and :57.1 over a 'good' track.
Brady Jenson got rolling with Anna B just past the half-mile and applied heavy pressure to the leader up the backstretch, getting the upper hand near the top of the lane while Hottieonthehorizon (Nick Roland) searched for room between horses and Its Pacific Time angled to the far outside.
It was a thrilling battle to the finish, as Anna B tried hard — but was unable to hold off the late charge of Its Pacific Time ($10.20), who got home first in 1:54.4. Hottieonthehorizon picked up third money.
The winner is owned by John Hendricks and trained by Joel McDanel.
The Thursday program also featured a $16,000 Minnesota-sired sophomore pacing event, with a full field of nine going behind the gate.
SD Watchmenow (Brian Detgen) was fastest off the car from post eight, easily clearing the lead in front of public choice Alilthundadownunda (Nick Roland), and those two were clearly the best throughout the mile.
Alilthundadownunda mounted a rally into the stretch, but was unable to get to SD Watchmenow ($11.20), who stopped the timer in 1:56.3. Double On The Rocks (Luke Plano) rallied late to pick up third.
The winner is a gelded son of Wind Me Up. Brian Detgen also trains and owns the pacer along with Sarah Solheid.
Mooney Svendsen led the Thursday program with a driving double.
Live racing returns to Running Aces on Sunday (May 30) with first post at 6:05 p.m. (CDT) and a $4,012.84 carryover in the Jackpot Pick-5.
(Running Aces)