Delaware, OH – Al Papi and Redland Rocket Man won their respective $50,000 eliminations of the Grade 1 Little Brown Jug, for 3-year-old pacers, on Thursday (Sept. 24) to lead the group of eight finalists for the $550,000 final today at the Delaware County Fair.
In the first elimination, Al Papi and driver Yannick Gingras took the lead coming out of the first turn and set the tempo from there to win by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:51.1. Joining Al Papi in the Jug final by virtue of their top-four finishes in the elim were, in order, Frantic Hanover, Treacherous Lou, and Thai Hanover.
Al Papi, a Ron Burke-trained homebred son of Papi Rob Hanover-Baron Remy, set fractions of :27.2, :56.4 and 1:24 on his way to his fourth win in 13 races this season. Sent off as the 1-2 favorite, he has finished no worse than second in seven of his past eight races, including a victory in the Delvin Miller Adios (G1).
“He’s been really sharp,” winning driver Yannick Gingras said. “He’s raced good now for two or three months straight. I knew he would love this track. He came up big, but I figured he would.”
As for his strategy, Gingras said, “I wanted the lead. That was plan A through Z. They were going to have to pace around me, and they were going to have to go real fast to get the front. I wanted the front, and I figured the horse would race good that way.
“He had plenty (left). I was pulling him up the last sixteenth to save something for the next heat. He’s ready to rock.”
In the second elimination, Redland Rocket Man and driver Jody Jamieson swept three-wide from fifth heading to the final turn and pulled away for a 4-3/4-length win in 1:50.2. The next three finishers were Watch Em Win, Melillo, and Fragment.
Fragment took the lead from post 1 starter Hunting Glory approaching the :27 opening quarter but faced immediate pressure from first-over Melillo, who was a parked-out leader at the :54.1 half. Melillo was unable to clear and Fragment regained control heading down the backstretch the final time, at which point Jamieson put Redland Rocket Man in gear.
Melillo, Fragment and Redland Rocket Man were three across the track entering the last turn, but it was all Redland Rocket Man from there.
“There was lots of speed on the inside, and I thought there might be,” Jamieson said. “I thought Melillo would clear maybe at some point, but I was happy that he didn’t get to clear for a while. My horse was gapping a little bit going to the half, but he’s such a good horse he’s going to give me everything he’s got. I just needed the backstretch to get around them and, geez, he was pacing so fast up the backside that he got a little rough on me. I slowed him down and he paced the last turn into the stretch like the true champ that he is.
“I wasn’t in an ideal spot, last in a field of five, but … I just stayed out wide. I was planning on catching Melillo’s cover and then seeing what happened, but I went three-wide a little bit earlier than I would have. This horse just saw the open air and took off.”
Redland Rocket Man, a son of Bulldog Hanover-Granny Hanover trained by John Pentland, was a $45,000 supplemental entry to the Little Brown Jug. He won for the third time in 13 races this season.
“I only used him a little bit the last half, so I’m hoping for the best,” Jamieson said about having something left for the final.
Following is the Little Brown Jug final field:
Post – Horse (Driver/Trainer)
1. Redland Rocket Man (Jody Jamieson/John Pentland)
2. Al Papi (Yannick Gingras/Ron Burke)
3. Watch Em Win (Chris Page/Ron Burke)
4. Frantic Hanover (Tim Tetrick/Ron Burke)
5. Treacherous Lou (Andy McCarthy/Robert Cleary)
6. Melillo (Ronnie Wrenn Jr./Ron Burke)
7. Thai Hanover (Dexter Dunn/Mitchell York)
8. Fragment (Jason Bartlett/Petter Engblom)