New record holder headlines $50,000 Dan Patch FFA

The $50,000 Dan Patch Free for All headlines the 12-dash harness racing card Sunday (July 28) evening at Running Aces.

After winning the elimination in a personal best and setting a new track record of 1:49.1, Muskateer Hanover (Sweet Lou) heads into the race as the 2-1 morning line favourite. He will have to lineup from the far outside, but that’s never hindered his chances before. The Brady Jensen-trained gelding has already six wins this year and has finished in the top three 18 times in 24 starts.

The elimination was his Running Aces debut, having raced in the Open at Oak Grove in prior months. He has earned a pair of his wins this year in that class. He is also the youngest pacer in the field at four years old and is the least battle-tested at 47 lifetime starts. Jensen himself will be in the bike behind Muskateer Hanover at post time.

The other elimination winner, Mac’s Marvel (Captaintreacherous) draws the rail. He won in a slower 1:50.4 mile. He capitalized on some speedy early fractions and won with a 27.4 last quarter. The five-year-old gelding also won at the 7-1 upset and came into the final at 6-1. Unlike the favourite, Mac’s Marvel has been racing at Running Aces a fair bit and has been competing in the Open class. The Williams Hernadez-trained gelding will likely need to outdo his lifetime mark of 1:50.2 if he wants to earn the win. Luke Plano has been charged with driving duties.

It’s also hard to count out the six-year-old Tuggin On My Heart (Rockin Amadeus) who has been firing almost at will in the Running Aces Open. He has won three of his last four and hasn’t finished worse than third since coming to Minnesota in June. It wasn’t long ago he was racing and winning in the claimers at Yonkers Raceway. Tuggin On My Heart is trained by Edwin Quevedo. Quevedo is on pace to have his best statistical season as a trainer; he already has 56 wins and has won over $766,000 in prize money. 2021 was his best year with 97 wins and $1.1 million in earnings which he should surpass if he keeps at this rate. Jacob Cutting will climb aboard Tuggin On My Heart once again for this big race.

Quevedo has another entry in the finals, Ynotthishos (Domitian Hanover), a six-year-old gelding with the most appearances of anyone in the field. He will make his 137th start on Sunday, but even with all those starts, he is also the second-lowest earner at $175,778. He still has scored on 20 occasions over his long career and has finished in the top three 60 times, a 44 per cent rate.

The highest earner in the field is the seven-year-old Sweet Lou product, No Lou Zing. He has accumulated $912,932 over 101 lifetime starts. He finished fourth in the eliminations but won his prior start in 1:50.2. It was his third win of the year and 28th of his career. He just missed matching his lifetime mark by one-fifth of a second.

The Dan Patch is the eighth race of the night, and the action starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Trey Colbeck, for Harnesslink