by Paul Ramlow, assistant publicity director, United States Trotting Association
Delaware, OH — A total of 24 three-year-old pacing colts/geldings have been entered for the $571,500 Little Brown Jug, the third leg of Pacing’s Triple Crown, slated for Thursday (September 23) at the Delaware County Fairgrounds.
The field will be spilt into a trio of eight horse eliminations, each going for a purse of $68,580. The top three finishers in each elimination will advance to the $308,610 second heat final. If one of the elimination winners captures the second heat final, he is the Jug winner. If a non-elimination winner is victorious in that race, then the four heat winners will return for a winner take all $57,150 race-off. If there is no race-off, that money will be awarded to the Jug winner.
The second elimination looks like the deepest of the three with Timesareachanging and Metropolitan heading up the field of eight. Perfect World Enterprises’ Timesareachanging is the 2-1 morning line favorite thanks to drawing post position four for trainer Brett Pelling and driver Ron Pierce. The son of Cam’s Card Shark has seven wins, five seconds, and one third in 14 trips to the post this year, with earnings of $780,220. Timesareachanging finished in a dead heat for win with stablemate Western Terror in the $334,875 Cane Pace Final (the first leg of the Triple Crown) at Freehold and was second, one length behind Metropolitan, in the second leg of the Triple Crown, the $340,950 Messenger, raced this past Tuesday (September 14) at Harrington.
Norman Smiley, Jeffrey Langfelder, TLP Stable, and Gerald Smiley’s Metropolitan saw his string of bad post positions continue as he will start from the outside post eight for trainer Chris Ryder and driver John Campbell. The son of The Panderosa drew post 10 in the $1 million Meadowlands Pace Final (finishing third) and the eight hole in the $1,189,535 North America Cup Final (ending up second). He started from the rail in Tuesday’s Messenger and posted a wire-to-wire, 1:522 victory for his most impressive triumph of the season. Metropolitan has hit the board in eight of 11 trips to the post this year, banking $703,747.
Perfect World Enterprises’ Western Terror is the 2-1 choice in the opening elimination. The Western Hanover sophomore rallied in the lane to finish in a dead heat for win with Timesareachanging in the Cane Pace Final, then picked up the third place check in the Messenger, finishing a length and a quarter behind Metropolitan. For the season, Western Terror has earned $322,492 thanks to seven board spots in 13 starts. Trained by Brett Pelling, he will start from post four in his elimination, with Brian Sears set to drive.
The third elimination is led by Antonio Chiaravalle’s Blissed Out, who comes into the Jug off a Mohawk all age track record time of 1:484 in his $106,718 Simcoe division last Saturday (September 11). The son of Blissfull Hall led every step of the mile in defeating Armbro Balmoral by seven and three-quarter lengths. He will start from the rail in his Jug elimination, with Luc Ouellette in the bike for trainer Richard Banca, and is listed at 9-5 on the morning line.
Here is the complete field for the 59th edition of the Little Brown Jug.
First elimination – Purse $68,580
Post – Horse – Driver – Morning Line
1. Finnegan Hanover/Brian Zendt/15-1
2. Capt Silverheels/David Miller/12-1
3. Maltese Artist/David Miller/5-2
4. Western Terror/Brian Sears/2-1
5. Western Prince/Yannick Gingras/10-1
6. Rare Jewel/Luc Ouellette/6-1
7. Driven To Win/David Miller/8-1
8. Up Front Brad/Dave Palone/4-1
Second elimination – Purse $68,580
Post – Horse – Driver – Morning Line
1. Four Starzzz King/Michel Lachance/7-2
2. Yankee Lariat/Jack Moiseyev/10-1
3. Sparkler/Paul MacDonell/6-1
4. Timesareachanging/Ron Pierce/2-1
5. Rogue Hall/Paul MacDonell/8-1
6. Harry Hornet/George Brennan/12-1
7. Armbro Baylor/Brian Sears/15-1
8. Metropolitan/John Campbell/4-1
Third elimination – Purse $68,580
Post – Horse – Driver – Morning Line
1. Blissed Out/Luc Ouellette/9-5
2. Town Champion/Richard Silverman/12-1
3. The Preacher Pan/Daniel Dube/5-1
4. Kafka Hanover/Steve Smith/8-1
5. Santastic’s Pan/Mike Wilder/3-1
6. You Rock/Brian Zendt/10-1
7. Crombes Last Laugh/Luc Ouellette/15-1
8. Holborn Hanover/George Brennan/7-2