The Sunday night (Aug. 13) harness racing program at Running Aces was highlighted by the 2023 Steve Wiseman Memorial Trot, which had a talented and accomplished field of nine square-gaiters line up to battle for $35,000 in purse money.
The fastest elimination winner from last week, Rock Party (Dean Magee), was sent off as the 8-5 favourite while Scorecard Dan (Jacob Cutting) was given a 5-2 chance by the public and Perlucky was the next choice at 5-1 on the board.
Brad Irvine had the controls on Perlucky and they took full advantage of the inside draw, leaving the gate with plenty of early speed to secure the front while Scorecard Dan also left alertly to secure the pocket and Bringoverthemoney (Mooney Svendsen) landed in third. Winnerup (Luke Plano) was caught outside from post eight and relegated to a first-over journey through the solid early fractions in :27.2 and :56 but failed to make much of an impression on the leaders.
Perlucky continued to lead comfortably through the final turn over Scorecard Dan and Bringoverthemoney as Rock Party got underway from second-over but was stalled behind a tiring Winnerup.
In the stretch, Scorecard Dan shook free from the pocket and went after the leader while big longshot Chiplosive (Brady Jenson) advanced into the passing lane, which resulted in a thrilling three-way battle to the wire. Perlucky dug in gamely to hold off both challengers and prevailed by a neck in 1:54.3 over Chiplosive with Scorecard Dan a neck further back in third.
The win was the third of the season from 24 starts and the 36th career win for Perlucky ($13.60). The eight-year-old Lucky Chucky gelding is trained by Bob Lems and owned by Thestable Perlucky Group. Perlucky now boasts $685,984 in career earnings.
The $2 Exacta (1-7) returned a robust $496.80 while the $2 Trifecta (1-7-5) paid out a hefty return of $4,678.20.
Driver Brady Jenson had quite a night at the races on Sunday, posting five wins, one second and two thirds from nine trips to the gate. Jenson’s winners included Peters Royalty ($8.20), Pecorino ($18.60), Wilamar Spark ($7), Lovin On You ($6) and Grab N Go ($8). Three of his five wins were for trainer Jose Castillo, and two of them for owner Dave Dobbelmann.
Live harness racing returns to Running Aces on Tuesday night (Aug. 15) with a nine-race program and ‘Dollar Night’ specials. The specials start at 6 p.m. and the first race is slated for 7 p.m. (CDT).
(Running Aces)