The Tuesday night, Sept. 10 racing program at Running Aces featured the weekly $20,946 Open Handicap Pace and this week’s edition was an action-packed contest that went to Macs Marvel, who posted a monster first-over effort to capture a narrow victory.
Last week’s winner Hezzz A Wise Sky (Dean Magee) was sent off as the public choice at even money while both No Lou Zing (Todd Warren) and Macs Marvel (Williams Hernandez) went off at 9-2 when the starter said “go.”
No Lou Zing surged quickly from the gate for the early call while Hezzz A Wise Sky also left alertly to challenge for and take the top just before the fast :26.2 quarter-mile clocking.
Tuggin On My Heart (Brady Jenson), who also left the gate quickly from the far outside post, advanced to the front and settled on top before the :54.3 half-mile juncture, relegating Hezzz A Wise Sky to the pocket position and No Lou Zing to third while Macs Marvel tipped out from sixth position and quickly advanced toward the front during the :27.3 third panel.
Around the final turn, Tuggin On My Heart still held the lead with Macs Marvel bearing down and Hezzz A Wise Sky a close third. As they swung for home, Tuggin On My Heart was under siege with Macs Marvel forging to a narrow lead while Hezzz A Wise Sky surged in the passing lane and No Lou Zing shook free with pace on the outside.
Those three pacers battled to the wire in a thrilling finish, stopping the timer in 1:51.3 and putting the photo finish team into action. After close examination, Macs Marvel was confirmed as the winner by a nose over Hezzz A Wise Sky with No Lou Zing beaten just a neck in third.
Macs Marvel ($11.40) is a five-year-old son of Captaintreacherous who is owned by Jose Cervantes and Terrence Smith and trained by Hernandez. He has six wins in 20 starts this season and now has 19 career victories with earnings of $266,045.
Wisco Half Pint (Brady Jenson, $84.80) pulled a monumental upset in the $22,973 Minnesota-sired freshman filly pace to post her first career win in 1:57.2 over Linked To Chaos (Mooney Svendsen) and Skoochs Valentine (Luke Plano). Jenson left alertly from post eight with the longshot filly and found a seat in fifth, where they tracked intently throughout the mile before Jenson angled out and found a narrow opening between horses in deep stretch to surge late and capture victory right at the wire in a thrilling blanket finish. The winner is a daughter of Easy Again who is owned by Dave Dobbelmann and Triple Q Stables and trained by Edwin Quevedo.
International Ice (Svendsen, $3.40) returned to his winning ways with a sharp 3-1/4-length tally in 2:02.2 in the $22,973 colts ‘A’ trot over SV Captain Ridge and Braggen Bliss. The son of Ice Machine now sports four wins from six career starts for the same connections of Quevedo, Dobbelmann and Triple Q Stables.
SHS Southern Pride (Rick Magee, $5.40) made it two in a row in the $22,973 freshman filly ‘A’ trot, taking a new career mark in 2:01.4 over Flora Cash and SD Imma Superstar. She is owned by Jay De Long and Terry Knothe and is trained by Justin Anfinson. The daughter of Southwind Flash now has four career wins from 12 starts.
Swinging On By (Dean Magee, $3.40) delivered another big performance as the favourite for two in a row in the $22,973 boys ‘A’ pace, taking a new career mark in 1:56.3 over Tutto Bene and Yellowstone Kid. The top three finishers are all by Karpathian Kid. The winner is owned by trainer Brett Ballinger as well as Darren Taylor. He now has five wins from nine career outings.
The other freshman winners on Tuesday night included Im Diz Fancy (Dean Magee, $10) in 1:59 in the $11,486 ‘B’ pace for trainer Adam Hauser and Step Machine (James Gould, $3) in 2:03 in the ‘B’ trot for trainer Elvin Zimmerman.
Drivers Rick Magee, Dean Magee and Brady Jenson and trainer Edwin Quevedo all posted doubles on the program.
Live harness racing returns to Running Aces on Thursday night for a 12-race program that will feature a carryover of $2,875.38 in the 20-cent Pick-5 Jackpot wager, which gets underway in race eight. First post on Thursday is set for 6 p.m. (CDT).
(With files from Running Aces)