Party Hangover Two gave owner Kathie Plested and her partners quite a thrill winning the $8,000 Fillies and Mares Open Handicap Pace at Running Aces on Saturday night, her fourth consecutive score in the class.
“My husband [trainer/driver Steve Wiseman] got me a nice piece of jewelry for my birthday,” Plested related, “but having your horse win an Open on your birthday is like icing on the cake!”
Despite sitting out a week after her first three Open triumphs and being assigned the outside post upon her return, Party Hangover Two cruised home a 1:54.2 winner by a scant nose over Keep The Dream (Travis Bowman) and Imfasterthanu (Nick Roland). It was just the 10th career victory for the four-year-old Party At Artsplace mare from only 37 lifetime starts.
Natives Revenge (Lemoyne Svendsen) captured a $6,500 Open II for males with a gate-to-wire score in 1:53.1 over Art Genta (Steve Wiseman) and Major Hottie (Kim Pluta). Bob Johnson trains the five-year-old son of Allamerican Native for Harold Actkinson. It was the seventh win of the year for Natives Revenge, who has tallied four at Cal-Expo and three at Running Aces.
Quickest mile of the night was turned in by Mattoxs Spencer (Nick Roland), who stunned a field of conditioned pacers in 1:51.3 for lessee and trainer Patricia Minnella. A 10-year-old son of Cambest, the winner missed his entire nine-year-old season but has returned to the races in 2015 and posted six wins in 26 starts, half of those victories in Minnesota. In his distinguished career, Mattoxs Spencer has won 29 times in 179 tries and earned $235,856.
A pair of Minnesota-sired three-year-old races were also presented with Goochs Hod Rod (Dean Magee) upsetting the $6,600 ‘A’ division, and Relentless Spirit (Lemoyne Svendsen) copping the $4,400 ‘B’ split. Both winning miles were clocked in 1:55.4.
(With files from Running Aces)