Delaware, OH – Graded stakes winners Al Papi, Fragment, Melillo, and Redland Rocket Man were among 11 3-year-old male pacers entered Monday (Sept. 21) for the 81st edition of the Little Brown Jug, which will be held Thursday (Sept. 24) at the Delaware County Fair.
Two $50,000 eliminations will be contested to determine the eight finalists for the same-day $550,000 Grade 1 Little Brown Jug final.
Al Papi, who earlier this year won the Grade 1 Adios, is among the six horses in the first elimination, which is race 15 on the 19-race card. The homebred Ron Burke trainee finished second in the Meadowlands Pace (G1) and MGM Grand Messenger Stakes (G2) and most recently finished second to stablemate Melillo in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship. The son of Papi Rob Hanover-Baron Remy has hit the board in 20 of 23 career races, winning seven and earning $1.08 million.
Toast Of The Town, one of the event’s two $45,000 supplemental entries, also is in the first elimination.
The second elimination includes Messenger Stakes winner Fragment, who most recently won the New York Sire Stakes championship for trainer Petter Engblom; Burke-trained Carl Milstein Memorial (G2) winner Melillo, who finished second to Al Papi in the Adios; and John Pentland-trained Simcoe Stakes (G3) winner Redland Rocket Man, who was second in the Milstein and is the Little Brown Jug’s other supplemental entry. Fragment and Melillo also are millionaires, with $1.09 million and $1.03 million, respectively, in career earnings. The second elim is race 16.
Following are the fields for the Little Brown Jug eliminations. The top four finishers from each elim will return for Thursday’s same-day final, which is race 19.
$50,000 Little Brown Jug Elimination One
Post – Horse (Driver/Trainer)
1. Frantic Hanover (Tim Tetrick/Ron Burke)
2. Al Papi (Yannick Gingras/Ron Burke)
3. Toast Of The Town (Jason Bartlett/Noel Daley)
4. Thai Hanover (Dexter Dunn/Mitchell York)
5. Treacherous Lou (Tim Tetrick/Robert Cleary)
6. No Waitlist (Doug McNair/Blake MacIntosh)
$50,000 Little Brown Jug Elimination Two
Post – Horse (Driver/Trainer)
1. Hunting Glory (Ridge Warren/Robert Cleary)
2. Watch Em Win (Tim Tetrick/Ron Burke)
3. Fragment (Jason Bartlett/Petter Engblom)
4. Melillo (Ronnie Wrenn Jr./Ron Burke)
5. Redland Rocket Man (Jody Jamieson/John Pentland)