Escaper narrowly evades capture in Open trot

Columbus, MN – The Sunday night (July 12) harness racing program at Running Aces featured the weekly Open Handicap trot as well as two divisions of the Minnesota-sired sophomore trotters.

In the $16,000 Open, Escaper (Muscle Hill) garnered the most attention on the tote board and was sent off as the even money favorite from post five, while All Champy was also highly respected at 2-1 from post two.

Driver Rick Magee sent his charge into immediate action when the starter said ‘go’ and prevailed in an early skirmish with Lexus Markus and Josiah miller for the top spot during the quick :27.1 opening stanza while BP’s Lucky Star (Mooney Svendsen) landed in third.

Escaper held command through very moderate middle fractions of :57.2 and 1:26.3 while All Champy launched a first over bid down the backstretch.

Escaper had a 1-1/2 length cushion turning for home over Lexus Markus but the pocket sitter emerged late with a furious charge to the wire to force a photo finish that showed Escaper as the winner by a neck in 1:54.4 for his fourth win of the season. BP’s Lucky Star was a hard charging third and the entire field was within two lengths at the finish.

ESCAPER REPLAY

The winner is a five-year-old by Muscle Hill and is owned by Rotiboy4Eva Racing Stable and is trained by Harold Herrera. He has now earned $278,216 to date. The win mutuel was $4.

SV Shining Star made it three wins in a row in the $17,500 sophomore filly trot with a 4-1/2 length romp in a career best 1:57.3 over Model Good looks and Anitra’s Dance. Rick Magee was the winning pilot for owner Jay De Long and trainer Justin Anfinson. The sharp daughter of Be The Best now shows eight career wins from 19 outings. She returned $2.10 as the overwhelming favorite.

HM Magical Money (by Tom Ridge) recovered from an early mistake at the start to post a huge late rally and capture his seventh career win with a new mark of 1:56.3 over My Little Maverick and Bang Bang Boogie in the $17,500 colts & geldings division.

The winner is trained and driven by Nick Roland for owners Tom and Kathy Shipley and Royal Roland. Win pool players collected $9.40 for every $2 ticket on HM Magical Money.

Driver Rick Magee and trainer Justin Anfinson led the program with three wins each, while Brady Jenson and Casey Leonard both posted doubles.

Live Racing returns to Running Aces for a nine-race program on Tuesday night (July 14) with first post set for 7 p.m. (CDT).

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Darin Gagne, for Running Aces