Minnesota-sired horses finished one-two in the weekly $8,000 Open I Pace at Running Aces on Saturday night, only to be outdone by their Gopher State bretheren -- who swept the top three payoff positions in the $7,000 Open II Pace.
Its Getting Hairy (driver Gerry Longo), the longest shot in the race, captured the Open I in 1:53.1 for the owner Wolfswinkel Pacers Inc. and trainer Gene Miller. Both the winner and runner-up Headsup Yankee (Nick Roland) are six-year-old sons of Relentless Yankee and were standouts earlier in their careers in the Minnesota-sired juvenile program. Winonefordoug (Tim Maier) raced gamely to finish third in the six-horse field. Its Getting Hairy, who surpassed the $100,000 earnings plateau with the victory, paid $31.60 to win and keyed $82.60 exacta and $382.40 trifecta returns.
A couple races earlier, Longo guided his own Chewy Baca to a nose 1:54 triumph over fellow Minn-breds Goody Two Socks (Maier) and Restless Yankee (Dean Magee) in the Open II. All three of the top finishers that produced a very tight photo finish to determine the winner are also sons of Relentless Yankee. Chewy Baca won for the 29th time in his career and increased his career bounty to $132,181 as the betting favourite. He paid $4.60 and topped $11.40 and $33.80 exacta and trifecta ticket payoffs.
Longo also won an earlier $5,000 conditioned race with Peg Hoffman's Flukie Flight to give the 70-year-old reinsman a driving triple for the second straight program at Running Aces. After seven nights of the 53-night 2015 meet, the elder statesman of the local driving colony is leading the dash standings with a dozen victories. He is followed by Nick Roland with 11 wins, Steve Wiseman with 10, and Luke Plano -- who also fashioned his second straight driving triple -- with 9.
Plano's scores came behind Kablooie (1:54.1), Real Attitude (1:53.4) and Mattoxs Spencer (1:52.3)
Moonshinenmonkeys (Tim Maier) upset a field of state-bred three-year-old fillies in a $5,500 event. Heavily-favoured Queen Of Denial (Roland) crossed the line second but was placed third for interference, while Dancin Debby (Mooney Svendsen) was elevated to the place position. Mark King owns and trains the winner who lowered her record to 1:55.4.
In the tandem $5,500 split for sophomore male Minn-breds, Gotalilcaptaininme (Steve Wiseman) topped Imgoodatwhatido (Travis Bowman) and Willystay R Willgo in 1:56.3 for owner Jessica Johnson.
Harness racing resumes Sunday at 6:00 p.m. (CST) with an 11-race program.
(With files from Running Aces)