Despite heavy rains and sloppy track conditions, there was some great harness racing at Running Aces on Friday, Sept. 19, including four Minnesota-sired Consolation races and three Open Handicap events.
The most dominant winner of the night was Swinging On Over in the $20,833 pace for two-year-old colts. He made an early move to the top near the quarter mile for driver Adam Hauser and then proceeded to hold firm control during fractions of :29.1, :59.1 and 1:29.4 before posting a sharp :28.1 final quarter that left the rest of the field reeling.
Vamos Tilin (Bryan Quevedo) closed from sixth to just nose out Cruisin The Clubs (Scott Cisco) for second but Swinging On Over was all alone at the wire, 13 lengths ahead of the rest to post a new career mark of 1:58.
The winner is a son of Three Of Clubs and is owned by Jay De Long, Ken Stauffer and Stephanie Anfinson and is trained by Justin Anfinson. He now shows seven wins from 15 career outings, paying $2.60 to win.
Speaking Volumes (Rick Magee, $2.80) delivered as the heavy favourite in the $34,722 Open Handicap Pace, surging inside late to score a 1:54 victory over a game Love Your Work A (Brian Detgen) with PD The Big Easy (Brady Jenson) home third.
The winner is a five-year-old by Artspeak and is trained by Brady Jenson for Little Bapa LLC.
SB Kara Mia (Luke Plano, $3.20) was last early but got her neck in front at the wire to capture the $20,833 sophomore filly pace in 1:58.1 over Mare A Raeann (Rick Magee) and Mamas Sunshine (Hauser). The winner is by Wind Me Up and is trained by Ulf Holm-Johansen.
Hotcheddar Flirt (Mooney Svendsen, $5.20) rallied from third at the top of the lane to capture the $20,833 freshman filly pace in a career best 2:00 over Prone To Wander and Letitia. The winner is a daughter of Karpathian Kid and is trained by Rick Huffman.
Handsome Harvey (Luke Plano, $5.60) held gamely by a neck over Its A Marcs World (Dean Magee) in 1:54.4 in the $20,833 Open Male Pace to post his 27th career win. The winner is a six-year-old son of Special Forces and is also trained by Plano.
Twist Little Girl N (Svendsen, $5.20) split horses late in the lane to get up by a neck over Premier Desirey in the $34,722 Open Mares Handicap Pace in 1:54.4 for her fifth win of the season. The winner is a six-year-old daughter of Vincent and is trained by Edwin Quevedo.
Lexus Markus (Scott Cisco, $12.80) held gamely at the wire by a neck over All Champy in the $25,000 Open Handicap Trot in 2:28.1 for the 1-1/4 mile distance. The winner is an eight-year-old son of Amigo Hall and is trained by Nathalie Tremblay.
Rick Magee, Luke Plano, Mooney Svendsen and Scott Cisco all had driving doubles on the card and trainer Edwin Quevedo also scored a double.
Live harness acing action returns to Running Aces on Saturday, Sept. 20 for the Minnesota Night of Champions program which will close out the 2025 season.
The program consists of 12 championship races going for $65,000 USD each. There will be mandatory payouts in all of the late program multi-race wagers as well as the final race Hi-5 wager.
First post time on Saturday is 6 p.m. (CDT).
(Running Aces)