Juslikeaqueen surges late to win

Columbus, MN -The Tuesday evening (June 25) Harness Racing program at Running Aces featured the $14,000 Mares Open Pace, with a very nice group of seven distaffers going into battle.

Newcomer Juslikeaqueen (Dean Magee) was heavily supported by the betting public and was sent off as the 2-5 favorite from post one. Delightfully Wild (Nick Roland) was fastest from the gate from post two and set honest early fractions of :27.3, and :56.1 with Juslikeaqueen riding along comfortably in the pocket. Cenalta Diamond (Tim Maier) launched a first-over attack near the five-eighths pole, and applied heavy pressure to the leader as they rounded the far turn and registered a 1:24.2 clocking. Pull The shade (Steve Wiseman) tipped three wide off cover and took the lead as they squared for home, while Juslikeaqueen angled to the outside with a furious charge to the wire and surged past right on the line for a half-length score in 1:52.3.

Juslikeaqueen ($2.80) is a 5 year old daughter of Palone Ranger out of the Kingston mare Queen Caroline, she now sport's six wins in nineteen starts this season, and 23 career wins, with $266,080 in her lifetime bankroll. The winner is owned by Antonia Storer and trained by Tim Maier, and she is being aimed at the 2019 Dan Patch Free-For-All Pace, which gets underway with elimination races on July 14.

Tuesday's program also featured a pair of two year old events for both trotters and pacers, The $10,000 Two year old Open Trot went to Miss Gracious ($6.80, Dean Magee) a filly by Money Talks who out-lasted Lo Can Go Go Go (Williams Hernandez) by a neck in 2:05.3. The $10,000 Two year old Open Pace event went to Waco Sassy Kid, a gelding by Costa Rica Kid driven by Nick Roland for a ¾ length score in 2:00.3 to remain unbeaten in three career races.

Another exciting occurrence on the Tuesday card came about when full siblings both picked up career best wins on the same racing program- five year old gelding pacer Marktentwentyseven ($7.80, Brady Jenson) won the opener with authority to score his tenth career win in 1:52.3 shaving nearly 1 second from his previous best time, while his full sister four year old mare Nurse Nattie ($14.60, Brady Jenson) stepped up to the plate in race eight and hit a home run for her sixth career tally, stopping the timer in 1:55 and shearing an impressive 3 and 3/5 seconds from her previous mark. Both winners are by Up Front Brad and out of the Heavenly Favored mare Mysparklingdiamond. The winning breeder in both cases is Brandon Jenson, while Larry Jo Jenson is owner and Brady Jenson is the trainer.

Drivers Dean Magee and Brady Jenson both picked up three wins on Tuesday, each scoring the Hat-Trick, while Nick Roland piloted two winners on the card.

Live Racing returns to Running Aces on Saturday, June 29 with first post at 6:00 pm (CDT).

By Darin Gagne

for Running Aces Casino, Hotel & Racetrack