Giggle Monster still on top in North America

Columbus, MN – Giggle Monster picked up his tenth win in twelve starts on the Thursday (May 20) harness racing program at Running Aces to remain the winningest horse in the sport in 2021.

He turned in a solid 1-3/4 length tally in a $8,200 pacing event, taking control just past the quarter mile. He and returned $6.60 to win as the public choice in the six horse affair. Giggle Monster is no stranger to the winner’s circle at Running Aces, where he has recorded most of his 28 career victories.

GIGGLE MONSTER REPLAY

He is a Minnesota-Sired son of Wind Me Up, out of the Sportsmaster mare Sportstalk, and he was bred by Alan & Cheryl Sandbulte. Alan’s grandkids called him the “giggle monster” and that is where the name came from.

The impressive 6 year old gelding has now banked $150,023 in his impressive career, which also includes Harness Horse of the Year honors in Minnesota in 2017- when, as a freshman, he won seven of nine races while finishing second in his other two starts that season and taking a mark of 1:55.2 for the year. Giggle Monster is currently owned by Set The Pace Racing, and is trained by Nick Roland, and cared for by Jessica Johnson, who characterizes him as the sweetest horse in the stable.

“He absolutely loves attention and cuddles,” Johnson said. “If you try to leave his side he will pull you back” … Johnson also shared that he “does much better at the farm than he does being stabled at the Racetrack ” she went on to say that he “gets too fired up with all of the constant activity at the track, and enjoys the farm life between races .. at the farm he stays pretty quiet. ”

Johnson also shared that Giggle Monster has “one of the biggest hearts she has ever seen – he is able to overcome many obstacles or challenges that many horses could not”. Nick Roland also drives the star pacer, and shared that he is far from a Cadillac on cruise control.

“He is actually a bit difficult to drive … because he does not like a slow pace at all” and he added that “he can race off the front- and win, but his favorite style is to run other horses down and pass them near the wire.”

Roland concluded with “He took a bit of figuring out, his racing style, and how to best rig him up for success, but right now he’s racing really good- and he is happy too … so we couldn’t ask for more than that.” It seems like the Roland stable has certainly found the winning formula for Giggle Monster, who posted a career mark of 1:52.3m at Cal-Expo back in February.

For full race results, click here.

By Darin Gagne, for Running Aces