Despite posting a sharp 1:52.1 win last time out at 23-1 in the Ron Banks Memorial and despite drawing the rail in Thursday night's $19,932 Mares Open Pace, Ideal Skies was again dismissed by Running Aces bettors at 12-1 odds. The Maria Alvarez trainee defied her odds and pulled off another double-digit upset as she nosed out the favourite in a photo finish.

Driver Luke Plano got the four-year-old daughter of American Ideal-No Clouds Bluechip away quickly and secured the pocket while favourite Lloyds Loves (Rick Magee) took the top and did all the heavy lifting through fractions of :27.3, :56.4 and 1:24.4 with Overthemoonforyou (Aaron Lehman) first-over and Twist Little Girl N chasing her cover during the middle stages. 

Rounding the turn for home, Overthemoonforyou began to lose steam and Ideal Skies emerged from the pocket while Kele Kele (Brady Jenson) also shook free from third at the pylons. Lloyds Loves dug in gamely and fought hard against Ideal Skies but was nosed out at the wire by the latter in the 1:52.4 mile with Kele Kele getting home third.

Ideal Skies now has seven wins from 19 starts this year and 15 victories lifetime. She currently competes for Friendship Stables.

The upset winner returned $25.80 to her backers at the betting windows.

Minnesota-sired sophomore pacers were also in the spotlight on Thursday. Tutto Bene ($18.20), driven by Mooney Svendsen, made a backstretch move to the top and never looked back to post a one-length tally in a career-best 1:54.3 mile in the $22,973 colt pace. Swinging On By (Dean Magee) was second best and longshot Yellowstone Kid (Scott Cisco) was third. Tutto Bene, a son of Karpathian Kid out of Drink Me Pretty, earned his first win of the season in 17 starts and now had four career victories for owner/trainer Lino Pacheco and co-owner Ron Rettig-Zucchi.

Miss May Bell ($4.80) and driver Brady Jenson made it two in a row over stablemate Mele Kalikimaka (Rick Magee) in the $22,973 filly pace, winning in 1:55.3 while Skoochs Valentine (Cisco) checked home in third. Unraced as a two-year-old, the Karpathian Kid-Eternitys Delight filly is now three-for-four in her career. The top two finishers are owned by Merlin Van Otterloo and trained by Brett Ballinger.

The $11,486 sophomore ‘B’ division went to Wind Me Up Blue ($5.60) in a new career mark of 1:56.3 for driver Scott Cisco and trainer Rick Cisco, who co-owns the Wind Me Up-Blue Note gelding with Tamara Wainscott.

Nick Roland led the program with his second straight four-win night while Josiah Miller posted an owner/trainer/driver double and Luke Plano posted a driving double. Trainers Lino Pacheco and Bob Lems also had two wins each.

Live harness acing returns to Running Aces on Sunday, July 13 with a 12-race program. Post time on Sunday is 6 p.m. (CDT).

(With files from Running Aces)