Tuggin On My Heart earned his third straight victory in the $21,233 Open Handicap Pace at Running Aces with a career-best effort on Tuesday night, July 16.

Co-track record holder Crooked Smile was the talk of the toteboard and was sent off as the 4-5 public choice while Tuggin On My Heart was the second choice at 5-2 and PD The Big Easy garnered moderate support at 9-2 in the win pool.

Crooked Smile and driver Todd Warren surged quickly from the gate from post five to grab the early lead before Tuggin On My Heart and Jacob Cutting came calling for the front near the fast :26.4 opening quarter marker with Sneaky Hill travelling in the third position for Brady Jenson.

Cutting settled Tuggin On My Heart into a nice rhythm on the front and they led comfortably through the middle panels in :55.2 and 1:23.1 while Crooked Smile tracked intently from the pocket and the rest of the field played 'follow the leaders.'

In the homestretch, Crooked Smile vacated the pocket to come after the leader but Tuggin On My Heart had plenty left in the tank and closed out the mile with a sharp :27.2 final stanza to capture his third straight feature race win in a career-best clocking of 1:50.3, which is one of the fastest miles of the Aces meet so far. Crooked Smile was 1-1/4 lengths back in second while it was a further four lengths back to Sneaky Hill in third.

The winner is a six-year-old son of Rockin Amadeus and is owned by Dave Dobbelmann and Cathy Dessert and is trained by Edwin Quevedo. Tuggin On My Heart now has 29 career wins and has earnings of $322,247 to date. He paid $7.40 to win.

Swinging On By ($3.60) prevailed in a thrilling battle to the wire in the $23,288 Minnesota-sired freshman male pace in 1:57 for a new career mark and for his third straight win for owner/trainer Brett Ballinger and additional owner Darren Taylor. Driver Dean Magee floated away in third with Swinging On By before activating the Kartpathian Kid gelding to move to the lead before the half. They then led comfortably before being confronted late by Blazin For Life (Rick Magee) in deep stretch. That pair posted an exciting battle in the final sixteenth of a mile with the photo finish going to Swinging On By, by a head, while Tutto Bene (Jacob Cutting) checked in third.

Delco Kathleen ($2.40) delivered as the heavy favourite in the $23,288 freshman fillies ‘A’ pace with a convincing score from a front-end trip to capture her third career win. The Easy Again filly checked home 1-1/4 lengths ahead of Linked to Chaos (Mooney Svendsen) while Skoochs Valentine was third best in the 1:58 mile. Todd Warren was the winning pilot behind Delco Kathleen for owner/breeder Jay De Long and trainer Justin Anfinson.

International Ice ($2.40) dominated the $28,767 freshman ‘A’ trot for his third career win, lowering his career mark to 2:00.4 while posting an 8-3/4 romp over SHS Southern Pride (Todd Warren) and Peanutbutterfalcon (Jeff Hunt). Mooney Svendsen was the winning driver behind the gelded son of Ice Machine for owners Dave Dobbelmann and Triple Q Stables. 

Braggen Bliss ($6.80) dominated the $19,178 freshman ‘B’ trot in 2:04.1 for his first career win, getting home 1-3/4 lengths ahead of Werewolfofwysteria (Brandon Jenson) and SHS Miss My Mama (Brady Jenson). Nick Roland was the winning trainer and driver of the Braggart gelding for owner Set The Pace Racing, LLC.

The Minnesota Kid ($6) benefitted from a patient Luke Plano steer and exploded with pace in the homestretch to capture the $11,644 freshman ‘B’ pace to be a debut winner in 2:00. The Karpathian Kid gelding surged past pacesetter and favourite One Last Booyah (Jeff Hunt) to post a 1-1/4-length tally with JK Cache Meoutside (Nick Roland) home in third. The winner is owned by Robin Clements and is trained by Jose Castillo. 

Live harness racing returns to Running Aces on Thursday night, July 18 for an 11-race program, which will feature a carryover of $8,475.79 in the 20-cent Pick-5 Jackpot wager starting in race seven. First post is set for 6 p.m. (CDT).

(Running Aces)