Castle Flight fought his way to a second-consecutive victory in the $12,000 Open Handicap Pace at Running Aces on Tuesday (July 27).
Castle Flight was sent the 9-5 favourite, with Stuckey Dote sent the clear second choice in the contest.
Castle Flight was fastest from the gate and won an early battle with Elusive Image, who dropped into the pocket, while Swagasaurusrex got away in third. Hoo Nien A launched a first-over bid through the middle stages with Parklane Jet following the cover. The outer tier failed to make an impression on the leaders as Castle Flight ($5.60) continued to pace strongly on the lead, and was able to hold off pocket-sitter Elusive Image for a three-quarter length tally in 1:54.
The victory made it back-to-back feature wins for the nine-year-old son of Panspacificflight, owned by Bill Dessert and also trained by Roland. Swagasaurusrex completed the trifecta in third.
There were two divisions of the Minnesota-sired freshmen trot. Scroll On By pulled a major upset in the $15,000 “A” division, getting a nose up on the wire over stablemate Vickies Vacation in a 2:02.4 mile for her first win. Poko Loki was also very sharp, and was beaten just a head in third. The top-two finishers are both fillies by Banker Volo, and the winner is owned by Kennedy Roland. The top two are also both trained by Dan Roland. The win mutuel for Scroll On By was $93.00 and the Roland-trained exacta paid $302.00. Tony Kerwood piloted the winner.
The $10,000 “B” division went to Calico Creek, (Luke Plano, $18.20) who scored her first win in her debut outing with a half-length victory in 2:03.1 over Need More Cowbell and Luna Love So Good. The winning filly is by Southwind Flash and is owned and trained by Jenni King.
Luke Plano led the Tuesday program with three driving wins, while Dean Magee posted a double.
Live racing returns to Running Aces on Thursday evening (July 29) with first post at 6:05 p.m. (CDT).
(Running Aces)