Hawks Red Chief, off back-to-back wins at Northfield Park, emerged victorious moving into the Rick Magee barn in the $11,000 Open Pace on Sunday, May 27 at Running Aces.
After a quick opening panel of :26.3, Bestinthebusiness yielded to the pocket as Hawks Red Chief cleared the lead. Longshot To The Limit gave the most chase to the leader, with a strong challenge down the backstretch to take over second, while local favourite Firedrake had been hopelessly blocked-in until the mid-stretch. Meanwhile Hawk’s Red chief continued to roll through a half of :55.1 and three quarters in 1:23.4 and maintained a one-length margin at the wire in 1:52.3.
To The Limit at 40-1 held second, and Firedrake closed strong to be third. The win tonight made it three in a row for Hawks Red Chief, who is owned by Burke Racing, LLC, Weaver-Bruscemi LLC and Michelle Yanek. This was career victory number 28 for the 7 year old son of I Scoot Hanover, who has now earned $297,437.
Also on the program, Frenchkissmebaby converted a pocket trip into a lifetime best with her victory in 2:01.2 in the $8,500 Minnesota-Sired three-year-old filly trot. The daughter of Money Talks is owned by Austin Staufer, trained by Brett Ballinger and was driven by Steve Wiseman. The $8,500 geldings split of the three-year-old trotters went to Bragginade, who was the two-year-old champion trotter in Minnesota last season. Bragginade is by Braggart, and he posted a sharp gate-to-wire tally from post five to take a new lifetime mark in 2:00.4. He is owned by Set The Pace Racing, LLC and was driven by Nick Roland.
Nick Roland led all drivers at Running Aces Sunday with a grand-slam on the card, becoming the first driver to achieve a grand slam so far this season. Steve Wiseman and Rick Magee both picked doubles as well.
The .20-cent Pick-5 Jackpot carryover now stands at $910.72, and there is a carryover in the Hi-5 wager of $1,874.00 for race 7 on Tuesday, May 29. First post on Tuesday is 7:00 p.m. (CDT).
(With files from Running Aces)