by David Mattia, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

New Brunswick, NJ — Grinfromeartoear p,3,1:50.1 ($1,746,009) is a Kentuckiana Farms stallion who stands in Ontario at Emerald Ridge Farm, and these days he has a lot to be grinning about. He’s the sire of last year’s Little Brown Jug winner Mr Feelgood, and his very gifted son Mister Big p,4,1:47.4 ($1,248,646) is his first million-dollar earner.

“I’ve only had three horses sired by Grinfromeartoear,” says Mister Big’s trainer Virgil Morgan, Jr., “but all of them have been very good.”

Even if you had only one horse by Grinfromeartoear, if that one happened to be Mister Big, you’d be in business. This tough, grinding horse is about as good as they come, and his timing couldn’t be better. He’s going into the final of The Canadian Pacing Derby about as sharp as a horse can be, and when he is sharp he can be quite menacing — just ask horses like Lis Mara, Total Truth, and Artistic Fella to name a few. To them he must seem like he’s always sharp.

“He’s got a great personality,” says Morgan of Mister Big. “In this day and age it takes a unique horse to do what he’s done this year. He started racing strong in January and he’s still racing as good or better now in August.”

Morgan continued, “He was eligible for some late closers early in the year and we took advantage of them. He raced successfully for us in The Willowdale at Woodbine (in January) and that was very early in the year.”

He certainly was successful because he took the second division of The Willowdale in 1:51.4 on a 14-degree night, and then went on to win the final in 1:53.2 on a much toastier night when it was 23 degrees.

“He was very strong in the Aquarius at The Meadowlands, and he won that final in 1:51.2,” said Morgan. “After that he raced well in the Levy (he won two legs) but then he drew poorly in the final and never got into the race, but overall we were very happy with the way he raced in that series.

“His schedule has been a vigorous one, but we did give him one break by design. If you look at most of the elite horses like Lis Mara and Total Truth, they didn’t come out until early May.”

Mister Big has seen a lot of high caliber action all year, and in the past few months especially. His more recent performances have made it quite evident that he’s as good as any of the horses he’ll come up against Saturday night at Mohawk, and with a little luck he’ll be the one in the Mohawk winner’s circle.

Lisa Photo

Mister Big (#5) held off Maltese Artist by a half length in the U.S. Pacing Championship.

Mister Big was second to Lis Mara in last week’s Canadian Pacing Derby elimination, but the two have butted heads a few times before, and in The U.S. Pacing Championship on Hambletonian Day at The Meadowlands, it was Mister Big who, from off the pace, catapulted home in :25.3 to win in a final time of 1:47.4. Maltese Artist was second and Lis Mara was third.

“He likes what he’s doing and he loves the game,” says trainer Morgan. “He tries hard and he likes to do his work from off the pace, but not necessarily. He’s very versatile, but he loves to pass horses.”

As much as Mister Big likes to pass horses, his owner, Joe Muscara, is hoping that his horse will just pass the horse that finishes second.

“We just have to play it by ear,” says Muscara. “We drew the seven hole but he’s the better horse. He’s been going long miles every trip because that’s the kind of horse he is.”

Muscara purchased Mister Big from the Harrisburg sale last fall after the horse had finished a strong second to Shark Gesture in the $610,000 final of the Breeders Crown 3-year-old colt pace at Woodbine. At the time Mister Big was in the very capable hands of trainer Tim Pinkse who, it should be noted, did an outstanding job of bringing this horse along.

“He looked like a promising horse at Harrisburg,” recalls Muscara. “He was the highest price for a racehorse ($255,000) at the sale.”

Trainer Morgan added, “Obviously he had finished his 3-year-old year strong with a convincing second in the Breeders Crown Final. He looked like a good investment for Mr. Muscara, because he was staked to a lot of late closers that looked like they would offer a good return. He’s a big, strong colt and it turned out to be a good investment.”

The Canadian Pacing Derby looks like it’s going to be a classic duel fought by some really tough horses, and Mister Big has shown that he can not only beat horses of this caliber, he can do it after having contested a long and exceptionally demanding season.

“The winners of the elimination got to choose their post positions,” said Morgan. “Lis Mara took post three and Total Truth took the rail. We drew post seven.”

So, here’s how the race will go to the gate Saturday night in race eight (9:41 p.m. post time) at Mohawk for the C$737,000 Canadian Pacing Derby Final: 1. Total Truth (Ron Pierce); 2. Doonbeg (Jody Jamieson); 3. Lis Mara (Brian Sears); 4. Tigerama (Rick Zeron); 5. Western Shore (Mark MacDonald); 6. Timesareachanging (George Brennan); 7. Mister Big (David Miller); 8. Took Hanover (John Campbell); 9. Mypanmar (Jack Moiseyev); and 10. Boulder Creek (Daniel Dube).

It’s going to be an exciting night at Mohawk for this handsome horse, who has lived up to his owner and trainer’s expectations, his outstanding bloodline, and his name — Mister Big.