Season best ever for Running Aces

Running Aces Casino & Racetrack completed its 9th season of live harness racing on Saturday night, September 3 after a 53 night stand that began on May 17th, and figures are up in every conceivable category to cap off the most successful meet in the track’s history.

On Track handle saw double digit increases while export handle was up over 22% above last year, Total purses, and per-race purses saw an overall increase of over 30%, while we conducted the highest total number of live races in the history of the track as well.

Huge crowds continued to be the theme throughout the season, especially large on Tuesdays and Saturday nights as well, we also gained more overall exposure for our Racing product through a stronger Social Media presence, as well as more comprehensive coverage of our racing through online and radio media, and the introduction of our product to TVG and TVG2 network audiences as well.

On the Racetrack, our Equine and Human star athletes shined bright with better racing than ever before, featuring blanket finishes and multi horse photo’s in nearly every race. 4 Track Records were re-written this summer, with LinkJack Hanover lowering the 4 year old Stallion Pacer mark to 1:54.0 with Rick Magee in the bike on June 19, Banker Volo Trotting to an Aged Stallion track mark of 1:55.2 with Nick Roland, and Majestic Lady Jo (Steve Wiseman) Trotting to a new 1:56.0 mark (Aged Mares) both on July 9th, and My Little Susie (also Steve Wiseman) Trotting in 1:56.4 as the fastest 3 year old filly ever.

Banker Volo also won the most races of the 2016 Season, by capturing 8 wins in his 11 starts here, while Bombshell Betty, The Winnin Dollar and WhatitdoBabyBoo all had 7 wins at the meet.

The 2016 leading Drivers award went to Nick Roland, who dominated the colony this season with 98 wins, 65 seconds and 66 thirds in his 442 races for a .353 UDR rating, while winning 22.2% of his races. This was the 4th Leading Driver Title for Roland in the past 5 years, and he is the all-time leading Driver and Trainer in the history of the Track.

The 2016 Leading Trainer award went to Steve Wiseman, who picked up his first Aces title this season, with a very strong and talented stable. Wiseman had 51 of his trainees visit the winner’s circle this summer at Running Aces, with 49 seconds and 41 thirds to post a fantastic .400 UTRS average, also with a 22.2% winning clip.

Running Aces Congratulates all of Our Horsemen and Employees on a fantastic 2016 season, and thanks all of our fantastic racing fans both locally and via our export signal, for helping to make this the best season ever in 2016. Keep up to date with all of the happenings here at Running Aces during the off season by checking our website: RunAces.com and follow us on Facebook as well at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack. We hope to see you all back at the track for more great Live Harness Racing next year.

By Darin Gagne, Running Aces Track Announcer