Jay Wolf,
Assistant Publicity Director of The Little Brown Jug, just released the first
of six top ten rankings of the contenders for the Jug, which will be raced
September 20. They are:
1 A
Rocknroll Dance
2 Hurrikane
Kingcole
3 Michaels
Power
4 Sweet Lou
5 Bolt The
Duer
6 Dapper
Dude
7 Thinking
Out Loud
8 Bettor’s
Edge
9 Time To
Roll
10 Allstar
Legend
In the
distant past one would begin by checking the records of these colts over half
mile tracks, but so many of today’s starters go into the race never having
raced over any track smaller than 5/8 of a mile that it’s impossible to judge
them on that basis.
Last year’s
winner, Big Bad John, was something of an anomaly in that he was based at
Delaware and trained over that track. Also, he won the Standardbred there at
two.
A Rocknroll
Dance deserves to top the list. He was off this past weekend but prior to that
raced hard nine weeks in a row, during which he was second in the NJSS final,
won the Hempt and Meadowlands Pace and finished second in the Adios. Gingras
races him aggressively, a must in the Jug.
Kingcole,
who is rated second, won a Hempt elimination, the Pace consolation and a
Classic elimination—all in impressive fashion—but being run down by Panther
Hanover in a very fast mile in the Classic kind of sums up his career. There
have been lots of fireworks but always at the wrong time. He still hasn’t
crossed the $200,000 threshold for the year. Dapper Dude, Romantic Moment,
Major Look, Cookie, Allstar Legend and Secretsoftheknight are a few of the three-year-old
colts and fillies that have earned more this year than he has, and most of them
have made fewer starts. When speed fails to translate into dollars there are
issues.
Michaels
Power, a winner of nine of ten starts, is rated third and can’t be faulted, but
most of his wins and money have been accumulated in restricted stakes.
Sweet Lou
has been a world beater in the PASS but has come up short in the NA Cup, Pace
and Adios. Palone prefers to let things settle before coming on, which is what
John Campbell has been doing with Dapper Dude—number six—who was recently
dominant in the Tarport Effrat and the Adios consolation.
Bolt The
Duer is made for Delaware. He finished second in the Rooney, and seemed to
handle the turns just fine as he made the mile, while Kingcole came overland to
get third in that race, but wasn’t as comfortable on the track. Actually,
that’s it: the history of small track racing for the top ten contenders for the
Jug. It all happened in the Rooney.
Bettor’s
Edge, who is rated number eight, is a New York bred, and they tend to get a
steady diet of half mile track racing at Yonkers, Buffalo, Monticello and
Batavia, whether they like it or not. However, Bettor’s Edge is owned by
Brittany Farms and trained by Linda Toscano, and they staked him to everything
and tend to race him in opens. When he does go the sires stakes route, as in
Sunday’s Empire Breeders’ Classic, it’s generally at Tioga or Vernon. On the
other hand, Toscano’s Hypnotic Blue Chip, who is under different ownership, spends
the bulk of his time chasing NY bred purses on the small tracks.
One would
expect to find Heston, a winner of eight races over half mile tracks, as well
as his Meadowlands Pace elimination, on this list, but he wasn’t staked to the
Jug. It seems odd that a colt that has never tasted defeat on a small track
isn’t being primed for Delaware. One could say the same about Pet Rock, the
Rooney winner, who is also absent from the list of eligible colts. He’s slated
to go in the second elimination for the Confederation Cup over the half mile
track at Flamboro Downs on Sunday, so Virgil Morgan and company aren’t staying
clear of the twice arounds. Panther
Hanover, a $25,000 supplemental entry in the Confederation Cup, who has never
raced on a small track, is another curiosity. His owner, Big Jim Carr, was
resigned to the fact that he would have to race Big Jim in the Jug to add to
his appeal as a stallion, so he may feel the same way about Panther and keep coming
up with those supplemental payments.
The Confederation
Cup will be a good test for the four Jug eligibles among the eleven colts vying
for a spot in the final, those being Michaels Power, Mel Mara,
Secretsoftheknight and Caviart Key. There will be nine in the final and less
than 23% of the starters from posts six through nine win at Flamboro.
At this
point the only route to the Jug for Heston, Pet Rock or Panther is the same one
Casie Coleman took with Betterthancheddar last year: win the Cane. Since none
of them are eligible to the Cane, their connections would need to pay a $35,000
supplemental fee. And after securing a win in that race, a $45,000 check would
be made out to the Little Brown Jug Society. It would cost the connections
$80,000 just to put themselves at the mercy of the draw in Delaware, Ohio. (The
Cane is the first leg of pacing’s traditional Triple Crown, hence the
loophole.)
Thinking Out
Loud, a stone closer, hadn’t seen anything smaller than a 7/8 track when he
raced in the Adios. He came late to get third in his elimination but seemed to
get lost on the last turn in the final. Time To Roll is in the same boat, and
his style doesn’t seem well suited to Delaware either.
Bettor’s
Edge, number eight, as well as the ten, Allstar Legend, are both quick out of
the gate and suited to racing in the Jug. The former is very sharp right now
while the latter scratched out of the Adios.
The Battle
of Brandywine, which takes place a week from Sunday, will add some clarity to
the picture—we hope.
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