by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — The last could be first.

Horse owner Bud Bay’s final horse, Doc’s Yankee, would make history if he wins Thursday’s $604,100 Little Brown Jug for 3-year-old pacers at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in central Ohio. Doc’s Yankee would be the first Jug winner owned by residents of the city of Delaware, Ohio. He is Bay’s first-ever Jug starter.

“This is our last horse we’re going to have,” said the 76-year-old Bay, who owns Doc’s Yankee with his sister, Janet. “We decided about two years ago that we were going to phase it out. We never had a lot of horses, anyway; five or six at any one time was a lot for us. To race two or three at once was a lot for us. He turned out to be a good one.”

Janet Bay and Bud Bay’s wife, Shirley, bred Doc’s Yankee. He is a son of Yankee Cruiser out of the Bays’ former mare Noble Marty. The mare, who won the 1996 Ohio Sire Stakes championship for 2-year-old fillies, is now owned by Schare Adams, who foaled and raised all the Bays’ babies at her Saga Farms in Kentucky.

USTA/Ed Keys photo

Doc’s Yankee has hit the board in 19 of his 20 career starts, with earnings of $150,984.

Doc’s Yankee will start from post No. 4 in the second of three first-heat eliminations in the Jug and was made 10-1 in the morning line odds. Delmarvalous, who will start from post one, was made the 3-2 favorite. The top three finishers from each of the first-heat eliminations will return for the race’s second heat. If a first-heat elim winner also wins the second heat, he is declared the Jug winner. Otherwise, all the heat winners return for a third-heat race-off.

Ron Potter trains Doc’s Yankee, who has won 7 of 13 races this year and 12 of 20 in his career. He has finished worse than third only once in his career and earned $150,984. Driven this season by Dan Noble, Doc’s Yankee has been strong on half-mile tracks — like Delaware — during his career, winning three times and finishing second three times in seven lifetime chances. One of the victories came in a division of the Ohio Breeders Championship at Delaware on September 23, 2009, exactly a year to the day of this year’s Jug.

“We’re going to have a big cheering section of Delaware friends and relatives,” said Potter, who has lived in Delaware since 1986. “It’s always been my dream to win the Jug. Living here is very special since my friends know how important this is to me and my owners.

“(Doc’s Yankee) is the most honest colt ever and he gives 100 percent every time. He loves to race and loves a half-mile track. This will be the first time he has faced Grand Circuit colts, but … he won’t embarrass us.”

Bud Bay is a retired salesman for Sysco Food Service. In 1991, he built a sports bar in Delaware called The Final Score. He worked there until the late 1990s and his family sold the business last year. The establishment was named in honor of two-time Dan Patch Award-winning trotter Final Score.

The Bays expect to have a big crowd with them to cheer Doc’s Yankee.

“It’s a big thrill to be in the race, I don’t want to make any bones about it, but we’re not making any noise about winning this thing,” Bud Bay said. “If we race good, it’ll be nice. It’s just a thrill to watch him race, really.

“This boy is really good. I’m not saying he’s as good as the big monsters that are going to be there at the Jug, but if he can show up a little bit he’ll give the fans something to look at.”

Maybe something historic.