Spiritofanoutlaw prevailed in the $23,611 Open Handicap Pace at Running Aces on Tuesday, Sept. 9, a night of thrilling finishes with five of nine races decided by one length or less.

The Open was the setting for one of the closest finishes of the night and went to post with a field of six contenders, with stablemates Spiritofanoutlaw (Brady Jenson) and Speaking Volumes (Rick Magee) being sent off as the clear favourites at odds of 4-5 and 7-5, respectively.

Longshot Tankalicious (Scott Cisco) was fast off the car from the inside post and had the first call before Speaking Volumes surged from the outside to quickly take the top before the fast :26.4 quarter-mile over the "good" track conditions, relegating Tankalicious to the pocket while Im A Skoldier (Luke Plano) got away in third and Spiritofanoutlaw travelled in fourth early.

Speaking Volumes was a comfortable leader through the middle stages of the contest, posting fractions of :56.1 and 1:24.3 while Spiritofanoutlaw began a first-over grind and Macs Marvel (Billy Mann) and Alilthundadownunda (Brian Detgen) both tried the outer flow.

As they rounded for home, Spiritofanoutlaw began to close in stoutly on Speaking Volumes, who dug in gamely for the final sixteenth of a mile. Those two provided a scintillating battle to the wire which resulted in a photo finish that showed Spiritofanoutlaw had prevailed by the narrowest of margins in the 1:52 mile. The top two were four lengths clear of Tankalicious.

Both of the top two finishers are trained by Brady Jenson, while the winner, a four-year-old gelding by Western Trademark out of Mariah Blue Chip, is also owned by Jenson.

Spiritofanoutlaw now has seven wins from 22 starts this season and 26 career victories with total earnings of $228,837. He paid $3.80 to win.

Al Mar Flash Over ($2.20), driven by Luke Plano, was much the best in the $24,306 Minnesota-sired freshman filly trot, rebounding from a miscue in her first loss last time out by going gate-to-wire from post six in 2:01 over a "sloppy" track. Improving her lifetime record to seven-for-eight, she checked home more than six lengths ahead of SV Shining Star (Rick Magee) and Dream In Motion (Billy Mann). Trained by Nick Roland, the impressive daughter of Southwind Flash-Vestal Hanover is owned by Thomas and Kathy Shipley and Royal Roland.

Merry Tyler Mare ($10.40), driven by Billy Mann, got her nose up at the wire in a thrilling finish in the $23,611 Minnesota-sired freshman filly pace in 1:59.2 in "good" conditions over favoured Starstruck Fool (Scott Cisco) for her second career win in five starts. The Wind Me Up-Pearl Handlepistol filly is owned by Bill Dessert and trainer Edwin Quevedo.

Trainer/driver Justin Van Otterloo's Mercy ($129.40) surged inside late for a huge upset in the $11,806 Minnesota-sired freshman ‘B’ pace at 63-1 on the board while Mr Lucky (Rene Goulet) flew home from the back of the pack at 51-1 to miss by just a head in the 2:02 mile over the "good" going. The winner is a daughter of Three Of Clubs and Red Hot Packerette who broke her maiden in her 11th career start. The winning exacta of 5-8 returned a healthy $1,275.80 for every $2 wager.

Live harness racing returns to Running Aces on Thursday, Sept. 11 for an 11-race program with first post at 6 p.m. (CDT).

(With files from Running Aces)