The Jugette

The brain trust in Delaware, Ohio forgot to include Empire Classic winner Mosquito Blue Chip in the mix when they drew for the Jugette, so they rebooted, this time with a dozen fillies. Ron Burke, who has four entered, got screwed as he lost his rail positions with Bettor N Bettor and Band Of Angels, and wound up with both leaving from the three post. And Sassa Hanover, who originally drew the three in the first elimination, wound up with the six on the redraw.

The fact that only 12 fillies are entered in the Jugette is disappointing. There is no Peelers, Jewel, Nitelife or Put On A Show, in her prime, to scare folks away. I guess everyone’s too busy promoting their better fillies for beating up on the slow poke sire stakes competition and getting them ready for the Super Duper Gold Plated Sire Stakes Finals.

The Rocknroll Hanover filly, Wicked Little Minx, who starts in the first elimination for Brett Miller and Nancy J, is the only filly not bred in either New York or Pennsylvania. Six are from the former and five from the Keystone State—all by SBSW. We’re always hearing about how great the Ontario program is. Where are they? Must be resting up for the OSS Gold Series. But the next Gold leg is October 1 and the final is the 10^th.

The Burke Barn entered four, while Delaware based Brian Brown has three going. Folks love to rip Burke for overloading fields, but where would the sport be without him? There would only be eight entered without Burke. Many races at B tracks, like the Quillen, Indiana Pacing Derby/Dan Patch, Molson and Battle Of Lake Erie would be hurting without his contribution of starters over the years. Gural recently passed one of his goofy rules to limit him, but it did more harm than good.

Last year 22 entered the Jugette, leading to a pair of seven horse eliminations and an eight. Burke had seven in and Brown three [including the winner], just like this year. Jimmy Takter and Casie Coleman, both of whom took a pass for 2015, had three and two entered, respectively.

The field was more eclectic, as there were five Ontario breds and a pair from Indiana. There were only three from New York, because their Night of Champions was four days before the Jugette. This year it was eleven days prior to the race. And of course, there were thirteen from Pennsylvania.

And the cherry on top was that the Always A Virgin filly, Color’s A Virgin, bred in Indiana, won the race. Let’s hope there are better results from the boys tomorrow.

Joe FitzGerald