Trotters were in the spotlight again on Sunday night, June 8 at Running Aces and the top events had repeat winners deliver big performances.
The $20,205 Open Handicap featured a competitive field of seven square-gaiters and the public honed in on Double A Goldrush (Luke Plano) as the top choice from the inside draw while both Warawee Whisper (Brady Jenson) and Iron Sharpens Iron (Rick Magee) garnered good support with each being sent off at 5-2 odds.
Longshot Greentea (Elson Miller) darted from the gate quickly from post four to grab the early lead and held court in the early stages while posting fractions of :27.4 and :58.4. Warrawee Whisper got rolling down the backside and surged to the front as Greentea began to stop sharply. Heading into the far turn, Iron Sharpens Iron also launched a swift rally and was a close second as they hit the three-quarters in 1:27.2 with BPs Lucy Star (Svendsen) closing in from third.
Warawee Whisper still had the lead as they straightened for home, but Iron Sharpens Iron was loaded with trot and the top two battled stride for stride to the wire for a thrilling photo finish that showed Iron Sharpens Iron had prevailed by a neck in the 1:56.4 mile for his second straight top level win. BPs Lucky Star was third best and Wilamar Spark (Nick Roland) rallied late for the fourth spot.
Iron Sharpens Iron paid $7 to win. The five-year-old Banker Volo-Lindys On Fire gelding, who now has 28 career wins from 55 starts and earnings of nearly $340,000, is owned and trained by Dan Roland.
Iron Sharpens Iron's younger half sibling Peanutbutterfalcon ($2.40) was also a sharp repeat winner, going gate-to-wire in 2:00.1 in the $23,288 Minnesota-sired sophomore male trot for driver Rick Magee. It was the ninth career win in 14 starts for the son of Quality Kemp and pushed his career bankroll close to $140,000. Dan Roland also trains this winner, a homebred for Jeralene Roland. Braggin Bliss (Roland) and Werewolfofwysteria (Jenson) finished second and third, respectively.
Also driven by Rick Magee, Attraente ($2.10) took control near the half-mile mark and never looked back en-route to a 3-3/4-length romp in the $17,123 Banker Volo Series final in 1:56.4 to advance to three-for-three status in 2025. The winning time was just one-fifth of a second off the track record for sophomore trotting fillies she set last week. The three-year-old daughter of Gimpanzee out of Bellamente is trained by Elson Miller and owned by Jana Rucker and CJ Christianson. SB Eye Candy (Svendsen) was the best of the rest and Impressive Landing (Billy Mann) was home third.
Rick Magee led the program with three driving wins while drivers Nick Roland, Luke Plano and Billy Mann had doubles and both Nick and Dan Roland had two training wins each.
Live harness acing returns to Running Aces on Tuesday, June 10 for a nine-race program that will get underway at 6 p.m. (CDT) and will feature a carryover of $4,186.30 in the 20-cent Pick-5 Jackpot that will start in race five.
(With files from Running Aces)