The Saturday afternoon (July 11) card at Running Aces featured two fields of sophomore Minnesota-sired pacers, each going for a purse of $10,500.
The male division appeared on paper to be a rematch between last year’s two-year-old male champion pacer Bunkerhill Phil (Dean Magee) and Running Aces newcomer Its A Marcs World (Nick Roland) – who spent his freshman campaign on the fair track circuit in Iowa. These two have quickly become top rivals among the male sophomore pacers this season, first meeting up on June 27 in a $13,000 Minnesota-sired event, where Its A Marcs World converted a pocket trip into a three-length tally over pacesetter Bunkerhill Phil. They met up again in a $6,000 three-year-old Open pace on July 3, where Bunkerhill Phil turned the tables on his rival by surging past Its A Marcs World by a neck right at the wire in 1:55.3 to take a career mark.
This week, the dynamic duo were the headliners in the Minnesota-sired sophomore colt and gelding pace, with Bunkerhill Phil drawing post five and Its A Marcs World starting from gate position seven as the heavy 3-5 favourite. Its A Marcs World served notice immediately that he was at the top of his game, surging from the outside of the gate to secure an immediate lead over The Dak Attack (Brady Jenson) and control moderate early fractions of :29.1 and :59.2. Meanwhile, Bunkerhill Phil launched a first-over move from fifth in the middle stages to take over second and drop behind his rival. Heading into the far turn, Roland asked for a bit more pace from the leader, and he responded in a big way – throwing down a :27.2 third panel and sending Bunkerhill Phil and Magee into full-on chase mode.
Its A Marcs World ($3.20) kept firing and kicked home with another sharp :27.3 panel to register a :55 final half and leave Bunkerhill Phil reeling in second while beaten by 5-1/2 lengths. The 1:54.2 mile established a new career mark for the gelded son of Marced Card, owned by Duane Roland and trained by Jessica Johnson. Nothinbutagoodtime (Darrell Wright) rounded out the top three.
The sophomore filly pacing event went to Its Pacific Time (Rick Magee), who impressively wired the field from post eight in a career best 1:56 to deliver as the heavy 1-5 favourite. Huftalookatdatfany (Nick Roland) was clearly second best on the day and Catchmeinadream (Mooney Svendsen) was a clear third. The winner is a daughter of Its That Time out of the Cams Card Shark mare Pacific Fling. She has now recorded 10 career wins in 17 outings for owner John Hendricks and trainer Joel McDanel.
Driver Nick Roland led the program with four winners, while Dean Magee recorded three wins. Trainer Jessica Johnson picked up a double on the program.
Live racing returns to Running Aces on Sunday (July 12) with first post at 1 p.m. Central time. The card features a $7,057.79 carryover in the 20-cent Jackpot Pick-5.
(Running Aces)