The Sunday night, July 12 harness racing program at Running Aces featured the weekly Open Handicap Trot won by Escaper as well as two divisions of the Minnesota-sired sophomore trotters.
In the $22,535 Open, Escaper garnered the most attention on the tote board and was sent off as the even-money favourite from post five, while All Champy was also highly respected at 2-1 from post two.
Driver Rick Magee sent Escaper into immediate action when the starter said 'go' and prevailed in an early skirmish with Lexus Markus (Josiah Miller) for the top spot during the quick :27.1 opening stanza while BPs Lucky Star (Mooney Svendsen) landed in third.
Escaper held command through very moderate middle fractions of :57.2 and 1:26.3 while All Champy (Nick Roland) launched a first-over bid down the backstretch.
Escaper had a 1-1/2-length cushion turning for home over Lexus Markus but the pocket-sitter emerged late with a furious charge to the wire to force a photo finish that showed Escaper as the winner by a neck in 1:54.4 for his third Open victory of the season by the same margin in the same time. BPs Lucky Star was a hard-charging third and the entire field was within two lengths at the finish.
The winner is a five-year-old Muscle Hill-Top Expectations gelding trained by Harold Herrera and owned by Rotiboy4eva Racing Stable of Wind Gap, Pennsylvania. Escaper has now earned $384,949 to date. The win mutuel was $4.
SV Shining Star made it three wins in a row in the $24,648 Minnesota-sired sophomore filly trot with a 4-1/4-length romp in a career best 1:57.3 over Model Good Looks (Brady Jenson) and Anitras Dance (Scott Cisco). Rick Magee was the winning driver for trainer Justin Anfinson and owner Jay De Long of Clinton, Wisconsin. The sharp daughter of Be The Best-SB Wine Is Fine now has eight career wins from 19 outings. She returned $2.10 as the overwhelming favourite.
HM Magical Money (Tom Ridge-Bit A Magic) recovered from an early mistake at the start to post a huge late rally and capture his seventh career win with a new mark of 1:56.3 over My Little Maverick (Brady Jenson) and Bang Bang Boogie (Rick Magee) in the $24,648 colt & gelding division. The winner is trained and driven by Nick Roland for owners Thomas & Kathy Shipley of Kahoka, Missouri and Royal Roland of Grinnell, Iowa. Win pool players collected $9.40 for every $2 ticket on HM Magical Money.
Driver Rick Magee and trainer Justin Anfinson led the 10-race program with three wins each, while Brady Jenson and Casey Leonard both posted doubles.
Live harness racing returns to Running Aces for a nine-race program on Tuesday, July 14 with first post set for 7 p.m. (CDT).
(With files from Running Aces)