by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Freehold, NJ — Little Brown Jug winner Shadow Play will return to action in Friday’s $275,000 Windy City Pace at Maywood Park in Chicago.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Little Brown Jug winner Shadow Play will be looking to add the Windy City Pace to his resume on Friday.

The 3-year-old son of The Panderosa-Matt’s Filly has won 11 of 20 races this year and earned $591,446. He holds the world record for 3-year-olds pacing on a five-eighths-mile track (1:48.2) and his Jug victory (in 1:50 and 1:50.1) on September 18 set the record for fastest combined time in a two-heat race on a half-mile track.

The colt took time off following the Jug to recover from a foot abscess, but appears ready to roll in the Windy City. The race drew a field of eight, including multiple-stakes winner/millionaire Badlands Nitro, who is the 2-1 morning line favorite. Shadow Play is 5-2 in the morning line odds.

“I think he’s ready to go,” said Dr. Ian Moore, a veterinarian who trains and co-owns Shadow Play. “He seems really sharp. He’s out in the paddock every morning and he just runs and gallops and goes nuts out there. He had a couple days off Sunday and Monday after I trained him on Saturday and I got my friend Jim Whelan to jog him for me this morning and he was quite a handful the first three miles. That’s usually a good sign.”

Moore co-owns Shadow Play with hockey Hall of Famer Serge Savard and Ron and Gail McLellan. Savard won eight Stanley Cups as a defenseman with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1960s and 1970s.

Shadow Play has done his share of winning, too. The colt has won eight of his last 12 starts, including the Jug, the Adios, and an elimination division for the Confederation Cup. Shadow Play’s future schedule could include the Messenger Stakes at Yonkers (as a supplemental entry), the Progress Pace and the Breeders Crown.

Here is the field in post position order for Friday’s $275,000 Windy City Pace (with drivers/trainers): 1. Mucho Sleazy (M. Oosting/K. Rucker); 2. Badlands Nitro (B. Sears/G. Teague Jr.); 3. Genuwine (A. Miller/E. Miller); 4. Dax Hanover (B. Holland/J. Butenschoen); 5. Shadow Play (D. Miller/I. Moore); 6. Vette Man (B. Simpson/H. Hochstetler); 7. Corner Blitz (T. Tetrick/J. Smith); and 8. Lets Getit Started (S. Widger/R. Welch).