The featured event on the Tuesday night (Aug. 30) program of harness racing at Running Aces featured the $11,000 Mares Open Handicap Pace, and in the end it would come down to the two most accomplished mares in the field, separated by just a half-length at the wire.
Hare To Eternity (Nick Roland) stormed out of the gate from Post 7 and set the fractions of :27.1, :56.4 and 1:24.4 before pocket sitter Part Time Lady (Dean Magee) and closer Windsun T Bird (Jim Marino) began their attacks in the stretch drive. When the dust cleared it would be Part Time Lady checking in first at the wire over a hard-charging Windsun T Bird, with Hare To Eternity forced to settle for third in the exciting finish.
The winner, a daughter of Jeremes Jet and a Mooney Svendsen trainee, now sports seven wins in 24 starts on the season, and has bankrolled $39,575 this year for owners Ron and Tammy Wells.
Driver Luke Plano picked up a hat-trick on the card, with Rick Magee and Gerald Longo both scoring doubles.
The .50 cent Hi-5 wager in race 10, (which had gone unsolved in Sunday’s final race, and again in Tuesday's ninth race) produced a new record payout of $11,184.45 on the 8-4-5-3-2 combination, with the longest shot (16-1) on top.
The next card of live harness racing at Running Aces goes to post at 7:00 pm CDT on Wednesday, August 31. The Night of Champions (and closing night) is this coming Saturday, September 3.
(with files from Running Aces)