Chewy Baca and driver Travis Bowman captured their third consecutive Open Pace on Tuesday night (August 11) at Running Aces.

After having started from Post 6, the duo worked hard to get to the front in a 27-second opening quarter. They were first the rest of the way, as they held off Thebestofjoel (driven by Tim Maier) by a head in 1:52.4.

The win was ‘Chewy’s 33rd career victory, but the third for current owner Dr. James Findlay of British Columbia. Dr. Findlay claimed Chewy Baca, a six-year-old gelding, for $15,000 less than a month ago.

The winner’s share of the $9,600 purse pushed Chewy Baca’s lifetime bounty past $150,000. Local favourite Linkjack Hanover, a three-year-old colt owned and trained by Jeff Ryan, finished a game third in the featured race.

A pair of $8,000 races restricted to two-year-old Minnesota-sired trotters was also contested on the card. The filly division was won by the favoured RSS Express (Duane Roland), who topped Whatevershesgot (Jenni King) and Hall Of Riches (Tim Maier) in 2:03.4. The freshman daughter of Rail Splitter now has a pair of Running Aces victories to go with one win and three place finishes at Iowa fairs. She is owned by Duane and Connie Roland.

Margins Echo (Rick Magee) notched his fourth rookie season triumph in seven tries, as he defeated the colts in 2:04.3 for owner Mikaela Delgiudice. The son of Abra lead the field throughout and trotted an impressive :59.3 back half to top Mr Jackpot (Dean Magee) by a half-length with The Winnin Dollar (Steve Wiseman) garnering the show dough.

(With files from Running Aces)