by John Pawlak, marketing director, USTA

Columbus, OH — Trainer-driver Kurt Sugg should know the way around Northfield Park’s “Flying Turns;” he’s made the one-hour trip between there and his training base at Wooster, Ohio countless times.

This coming Saturday (June 23) he’ll make the drive with Dean Davis’ homebred Gordie How, who drew the rail in the first of two $87,600 divisions of the Heineken Premium Light Cleveland Classic for 3-year-old pacers. The pair have been made the 9-2 third choice on the morning line. The favorite in that division will be another Ohio-connected colt, Hot Rod Mindale.

Sugg took the hobbles off the son of Stand Forever and Gramma Gordie following an even, but losing effort in an Ohio Sires Stake at Lebanon Raceway this past May 5, and in the wake of that move the gelding won three straight races, including a 1:53.2 Ohio Sires Stake win at Northfield on June 2.

“He has fairly decent speed, and that’s bred into him,” Sugg said in a telephone interview, granted while jogging another member of his Wooster, Ohio-based stable. “I raced his dam (Gramma Gordie); she had speed but got salmonella at age two and had a couple of surgeries at age three.”

Davis, who has been patron of the Kurt Sugg stable for 12 years, is perhaps best noted for owning the hard-knocking trotter Dunkster, who has won 69 races and $703,653 in a seven-year career. He is in the gas and oil business, develops real estate, farms, and breeds and owns some of Ohio’s best Standardbreds.

And Ohio will likely be the focus of Gordie How’s sophomore campaign. After a winless freshman campaign Sugg and Davis decided to pull the plug on the dream every Ohioan has in September — winning the Little Brown Jug.

“I dropped the Jug payment this year, and he’s not eligible to much. He can go in the Jug Preview, but is eligible mostly in Ohio. But, if he looks like he can handle some good horses he could be paid into the American-National (at Balmoral Park), or some other things.”

Having yet to prove himself against stakes-seasoned colts might make Gordie How’s 9-2 morning line price seem a bit optimistic, but Sugg summed it up, as horsemen often do, by saying “hey, we’ve got the rail, and we’re in the easier division.”

Hot Rod Mindale, who is owned by Ohioans Joe Sbrocco and Frank Dettore, in partnership with Pennsylvania’s Bill Donovan, has already displayed a fondness for a four-turn track, has a Grand Circuit stakes win under his girth, and may have something to say about Sugg’s plans in the first division, where he drew post position four.

The son of Real Artist and the Jate Lobell mare Nani Oakly Mindale has proved his ability to win on a small track; he won the 2006 Standardbred at Delaware, Ohio last year, in 1:55.

“He’s really good on a half-mile track and real handy,” trainer Jim Arledge, Jr. said on Thursday morning.

“We’ve kept him eligible to some of the big stakes on a half-mile track, at Yonkers, Monticello and Delaware. The idea was to avoid throwing him in against the big bulls early on the bigger tracks. He’s not eligible to the Meadowlands Pace, but is paid to the Breeders Crown (to be at the Meadowlands on November 24).”

Saturday’s start in the Cleveland Classic will mark the first time he’s raced for a purse since an eye-popping, 1:53 win in an overnight at Northfield Park on June 2, in which Bret Miller drove him to a front-striding victory measuring 14-3/4 lengths. The time off, however, was simply part of Arledge’s plan.

“We tried to give him a break, looked for a race before this Saturday, but just couldn’t find a spot,” Arledge explained.

Left with no purse opportunities, Hot Rod Mindale qualified at Scioto Downs this past Friday, and won by 43-1/4 lengths, in 1:53.2.

This Saturday, Brett Miller will again drive the Ohio-foaled speedster, and the pair were made the 5-2 favorites in the opening split.

Classic Notes: In addition to Brett Miller being confirmed to drive Hot Rod Mindale, three other sulky assignments are now firm: Daniel Dube will drive Up Front Barry (7-2, post three, first division); Ryan Stahl took the call on Real Platinum (17-1, post seven, first division); and Del S. Miller will handle Caviart Cody (15-1, post two, second division)

Editor’s Note: The Cleveland Classic will be the seventh stop on the USTA’s Cyber Circuit. Be sure to view the race replay moments after the “official” sign is posted. Follow the entire Cyber Circuit by following this link.