Running Aces’ Saturday evening (June 8) program of racing was jam-packed and headlined by an $11,500 Minnesota-Sired Three Year Old Colt Pace, which didn’t disappoint.
The field of male pacers featured the 2018 Minnesota Horse of the Year, Burning Blaze (who was driven by Steve Wiseman) and 2019 early standouts SB Bodacious (Rick Magee) and Stay Humble N Kind (Gerald Longo).
SB Bodacious ($4.20) served notice right off the gate that he was a force to be reckoned with. He blasted to an immediate lead from Post 5 and then yielded to fellow ‘leaver’ Trump Train (Don Harmon).
The fractions were lively – :27.1 and :55.4 for the opening half – and Rick Magee wasted no time in getting SB Bodacious back to the front of the affair, as the duo swept back to the top just past the five-eighths marker. Stay Humble N Kind got rolling from the back of the pack as they hit three quarters in 1:24.3 and began to give chase to the leader. As that was occurring, Burning Blaze, who had received the ‘Colombus shuffle,’ was finally able to shake free near the top of the lane.
The chase proved futile for the rest of the pack because SB Bodacious was in full flight for the wire. He paced home in :27.4 and stopped the timer in a dazzling 1:52.2 to just miss a track record by a few ticks. Stay Humble N Kind was clearly second best while Burning Blaze salvaged third after a troubled trip.
SB Bodacious is a gelded son of Voracious Hanover out of the Western Hanover mare Salsa Hanover. He is now three for four in 2019 – his only defeat came last out when he was a close second. He has lowered his lifetime mark with each victory, and dropped over three seconds with Saturday's impressive win. Mikaela DelGiudice is the winning owner, and Rick Magee also does the training.
Windmeupnwatchmego captured the $11,500 Filly Pace for Minnesota-sired three-year-olds in 1:55.1, while Fox Valley Nemitz won the $15,000 Open Handicap Pace for horses and geldings in 1:52. Driver Tim Maier posted his third hat trick of the season and remains the only driver to win more than two races on any card this year at Running Aces. Maier has now vaulted from second to first in the track’s driver standings, just one ahead of Dean Magee.
Live Racing will return to Running Aces on Sunday, June 9 with a trio of carryovers. The 50-cent early Pick-4 has a carryover of $594.07, the 20-cent Pick-5 is at $5,047.49 and the 50-cent Hi-5 stands at $926.35. First post is at 6:00 p.m. (CDT).
(With files from Running Aces)