Alilthundadownunda and trainer/driver Nick Roland provided a thrilling inside rally to capture the $18,500 Open Handicap Pace on Tuesday night (May 16) at Running Aces.
Roland floated Alilthundadownunda away in fifth from post four in the nine-horse contest while Cheese Omelet (Todd Warren) registered the first fraction in :27.1 before yielding to Officer Jim (Mooney Svendsen) near the :55.2 half-mile juncture.
Saddle Up (Dean Magee) was activated from seventh down the backside and quickly brushed to the lead while Alilthundadownunda was able to smartly slide out and pick up cover briefly and advance to drop in second as they rounded the far turn and passed three-quarters in 1:24.2.
As they swung for home, Alilthundadownunda quickly closed in and moved inside of the leader and the top two offered an exciting deep-stretch battle to the wire and put the photo-finish camera system into overdrive. After the dust had settled, Alilthundadownunda had gotten home first by the narrowest of margins, a fraction of a nose ahead of Saddle Up, as they stopped the timer in 1:52.2 with Cheese Omelet getting home in third.
The winner is owned by Set The Pace Racing and now has six wins in 15 starts this year and 35 career triumphs while earning $341,557.
Driver Elson Miller added some fireworks to the program in the nightcap event, aggressively steering his freshman pacing filly Teracita (sired by Sportswriter) to her third win of the season in six starts, while registering a career mark of 1:54.1. Heavy favourite Handsome Harvey took a lot of air in the affair and drew alongside the winner in the final quarter but was unable to get by.
Teracita was virtually ignored by the betting public at 31-1 in the win pool and returned $64.80 for each $2 win ticket as the upset also sparked a hefty 50-cent payout of $1,553.70 in the Late Pick-4 wager and a Hi-5 carryover of $2,765.26 for race four on Thursday night.
(Running Aces)