Alilthundadownunda a nose to the good at Running Aces

Columbus, MN – Alilthundadownunda (Malak Uswaad N) and trainer/driver Nick Roland provided a thrilling inside rally to capture the $18,500 harness racing feature Tuesday night (May 16) at Running Aces.

Roland floated away in fifth from post four in the nine-horse contest while Cheese Omelet (Todd Warren) registered the first fraction in :27.1 before yielding to Officer Jim (Mooney Svendsen) near the (:55.2) half mile juncture.

Saddle Up (Dean Magee) was activated from seventh down the backside and quickly brushed to the lead while Alilthundadownunda was able to smartly slide out and pick up cover briefly and advance to drop in second as they rounded the far turn and passed three-quarters in 1:24.2.

As they swung for home, Alilthundadownunda quickly closed in and moved inside of the leader and the top two offered an exciting deep-stretch battle to the wire and put the photo-finish camera system into overdrive.

After the dust had settled, Alilthundadownunda had gotten home first by the narrowest of margins, a fraction of a nose ahead of Saddle Up as they stopped the timer in 1:52.2 with Cheese Omelet getting home in third.

The winner is owned by Set The Pace Racing and now shows six wins in 15 starts this year, and 35 career triumphs while earning $341,557.

ALILTHINDADOWNUNDA REPLAY

Driver Elson Miller added some fireworks to the program in the nightcap event, aggressively steering his freshman pacing filly Teracita (Sportswriter) to her third win of the season in six starts, while registering a career mark of 1:54.1. Heavy favorite Handsome Harvey took a lot of air in the affair and drew alongside the winner in the final quarter but was unable to get by.

Teracita was virtually ignored by the betting public at 31-1 in the win pool and returned $64.80 for each $2 win ticket as the upset also sparked a hefty 50-cent payout of $1,553.70 in the Late Pick-4 wager and a Hi-5 carryover of $2,765.26 for race four on Thursday Night (May 18).

TERACITA REPLAY

For complete race results, click here.

by Darin Gagne, for Running Aces