Ideal Skies and driver Luke Plano pulled off a 23-1 upset in the 2025 action-packed edition of the $58,562 Ron Banks Memorial Free-For-All Mares Pace, held on Sunday, June 30 at Running Aces.
Lloyds Loves (Rick Magee) was the 3-2 public choice while Kele Kele (Brady Jenson) was a close second in the wagering at 9-5 and Scorecard Dandy (Dean Magee) was the 5-1 third pick.
There was plenty of action as soon as the gate folded as Twist Little Girl N (Mooney Svendsen) powered away from post seven and Lloyds Loves charged out from post three to duel early for the front while Kele Kele also chimed into the battle from post four to contest the top with Ideal Skies settling away in fourth for Plano.
Twist Little Girl N had the call at the fast :26.2 quarter-mile point before Kele Kele pressed by for a brief lead and then relinquished the top to a post-quarter-pole move by Lloyds Loves before the swift :54.4 half-mile clocking.
Lloyds Loves held court down the backside as Majors Miracle (Josiah Miller) attacked from first-over and Scorecard Dandy picked up the cover to travel in a close striking position while Ideal Skies was locked and shuffled as they headed for the far turn.
Lloyds Loves still had command at the three-quarters in 1:23.2 and Majors Miracle was still trying hard on the outside of the leader as the rest of the field began to stack up.
As they swung for home, Lloyds Loves was under siege as Scorecard Dandy and Kele Kele were both surging strong and Ideal Skies was able to shake free and angle out for clearance to unleash a breathtaking late rally between horses while Graceful Horizon (Nick Roland) closed wide from the back of the pack.
The final sixteenth of a mile was a thrilling dash to the wire as Scorecard Dandy took a short lead with Kele Kele surging inside but Ideal Skies was flying home and swept by that pair in the final two strides to get the victory at 23-1 on the board in the 1:52.1 mile. The winning margin was a half-length over Scorecard Dandy while Kele Kele was a further neck back in third and Graceful Horizon checked home in fourth.
The winner is a four-year-old daughter of American Ideal, owned by New Jersey-based Friendship Stables and trained by Maria Alvarez for the Williams Hernandez stable. She now has six wins this year in 18 starts and 14 career wins with total earnings of $224,633.
Attraente delivered an eye-popping performance in a $12,329 conditioned trot, going gate-to-wire as the favourite from post five with Josiah Miller at the controls and lowering her own track record for sophomore fillies to 1:54.4 in the process. The daughter of Gimpanzee and Bellamente is now a perfect four-for-four in 2025 for trainer Elson Miller and Wisconsin owners Jana Rucker and CJ Christianson. The win mutuel was $4.60.
BPs Lucky Star ($10.20) rallied late to pick up his second straight Open Handicap Trot victory with Lemoyne Svendsen at the controls, stopping the timer in 1:56.1 while 1-3/4 lengths in front of his rivals in the $20,205 event. It was the 15th career win for the five-year-old For You Almostfree-L H Fillybuster gelding for owner/trainer Rick Huffman and additional owner Brenda Lovetinsky.
Peanutbutterfalcon (Quality Kemp-Lindys On Fire) converted a perfect pocket trip into a 2-3/4-length score as the heavy favourite in the $28,767 Minnesota-sired sophomore ‘A’ trot in 2:00 for his third win of the season for trainer Dan Roland and owner Jeralene Roland. Rick Magee was the winning driver and the win mutuel was $2.60.
Quality Kid (Quality Kemp-Barefoot Brook) posted a big closing effort to capture the $19,178 sophomore ‘B’ trot with a career-best 2:00 effort over Flora Cash and SV Captain Ridge. Nick Roland was the winning driver for trainer Justin Anfinson and owners Jay De Long, Ken Stauffer and Stephanie Anfinson. Quality Kid paid $4.80 to win.
Sunday’s leaders included Maria Alvarez with three training wins while Nick Roland, Mooney Svendsen, Josiah Miller and Billy Mann had driving doubles.
Live harness racing returns to Running Aces for a nine-race program on Tuesday, July 1 with first post at 7 p.m. (CDT).
(With files from Running Aces)