Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Little Brown Jug Fields
Barn Notes are Updated Daily--September 23, 2004

Little Brown Jug (first division, first three heats): Western Terror and driver Brian Sears took the 1st division of the 1st heat of the Little Brown Jug in 1:51 over Maltese Artist and Driven To Win. The second division of the 1st heat was won by Timesareachanging in 1:52 over Metropolitan and Four Starzzz King. Blissed Out won the 3rd division (first heat) with Town Champion second and Santastic's Pan third in 1:51.2. Each heat carried a purse of $68,580.

The field for the $571,500 Little Brown Jug at the Delaware County Fair by first-heat divisions in post-position order with listed drivers and morning line odds:

First division: Finnegan Hanover, Brian Zendt, 15-1; Capt Silverheels, David Miller, 12-1; Maltese Artist, David Miller, 5-2; Western Terror, Brian Sears, 2-1; Western Prince, Yannick Gingras, 10-1; Rare Jewel, Luc Ouellette, 6-1; Driven To Win, David Miller, 8-1; Up Front Brad, Dave Palone, 4-1.

Second division: Four Starzzz King, Mike Lachance, 7-2; Yankee Lariat, Jack Moiseyev, 10-1; Sparkler, Paul MacDonell, 6-1; Timesareachanging, Ron Pierce, 2-1; Rogue Hall, Paul MacDonell, 8-1; Harry Hornet, George Brennan, 12-1; Armbro Baylor, Brian Sears, 15-1; Metropolitan, John Campbell, 4-1.

Third division: Blissed Out, Luc Ouellette, 9-5; Town Champion, Richard Silverman, 12-1; The Preacher Pan, Daniel Dube, 5-1; Kafka Hanover, Steve Smith, 8-1; Santastic’s Pan, Mike Wilder, 3-1; You Rock, Brian Zendt, 10-1; Crombes Last Laugh, Luc Ouellette, 15-1; Holborn Hanover, George Brennan, 7-2.

Little Brown Jug Barn Notes
Bill Zendt has trained horses for Russell Loudon for three decades. During that time, they have never brought a horse to the Little Brown Jug. Until Thursday, that is, when Finnegan Hanover goes behind the gate in the opening division of the first heats.

"Russell's from Ohio and he's always wanted to race in the Jug," said Zendt, who co-owns the horse with Loudon. "He's 75 years old and figured if he's ever going to do it, it might as well be now with Finnegan Hanover. It just shows how tough it is to have a horse to get here. It's $6,000 [for the starting fee] so you better be able to go a bit."

Zendt also will have You Rock in the third division. You Rock is owned by Zendt, Jim Webb Jr. and Bob Huntsinger, all of western Pennsylvania. The 55-year-old Zendt's only previous Jug starter was Keystone Romeo, who finished fourth in his first heat and failed to advance to the second heat in 1998.

Finnegan Hanover has one win in 16 starts this year and has earned $38,046. He is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Jug Preview on September 11 at Scioto Downs.

"I just call him a hard-luck colt," Zendt said. "He's paced some nice miles, but he can't make his own trip like You Rock can. He raced real well in the Cleveland Classic [finishing third on August 21]. He got interfered with a little bit, but raced real good."

You Rock finished seventh in his Jug Preview division, but started from post seven and got parked on the outside for the majority of the mile. He won his two starts prior to the Jug Preview, including a stakes record victory (1:50.1) in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship on September 4 at the Meadows.

"He's been real sharp," said Zendt, who is probably best known for training Always Cam, the winner of the 2002 Jugette and this year's Breeders Crown Mare Pace. "I think you can throw out the Jug Preview. He hasn't beat the top horses yet, but he's been good. I think he's got a shot at it."

Finnegan Hanover drew the rail and is 15-1 in the opening division while You Rock starts from post six and is 10-1 in the third.

Trainer Peter Blood, one of the horse's minority partners, said Kafka Hanover was "a real idiot at first," but that hasn't kept the horse from winning five of 22 starts and $79,307 this year. Kafka Hanover will compete Thursday in the Little Brown Jug, racing in the third division of opening heats. He will start from post four and is 8-1 in the morning line.

Blood, who is based at Pompano Park, trained Kafka Hanover until May of this year when the horse shipped north and was turned over to driver Stephen Smith and trainer Karen Garland. Blood was looking for a yearling out of the mare Krafty Kim because of the success he had with two of her other horses, Klingon Hanover (third in the 2001 Meadowlands Pace, $709,677 in career earnings) and Kanwin Hanover, when he settled upon Kafka Hanover.

"He was a real idiot at first, a tough horse to get going," Blood said. "He was just a hard horse to get gaited. You could see periods where he had some ability, where he was very light on his feet and athletic. So we persevered. To this day when he scores down, he canters. He'll pace intermittently while scoring, but he canters. People look at me and ask how I can race a lame horse. I tell them that he's not lame, that's just what he does. He's been doing better lately; I think he's getting an idea."

Kafka Hanover won four straight starts before finishing fifth in the Kentucky Sired Summer Championship on September 11 at the Red Mile. His top win came on August 14 at the Red Mile in the Kentucky Summer Championship.

"He had a horrible trip [in the Kentucky Sired Summer Championship]," Blood said. "He was first-over in a half of 54.3. We thought if he wasn't first or second, we wouldn't go to the Jug. But we thought he had an excuse. I've never owned a horse in the Jug. I'm 60 years old now, so how many times do you get to have a piece of a horse like this? We want to participate."

Blood is part of Magic Partners LLC Two, which owns Kafka Hanover. Gary Piontkowski, the president and CEO of Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville, Massachusetts leads the group. It also includes Robert Gopen, Mary O'Donnell, Robert Rosenheim, and Richard Tuch.

Garland, 39, and Smith, 43, have had success with Garden Spot, Sugar Trader and Glide About. In 2002, they won the $410,000 Valley Victory with Garden Spot and the $225,000 Matron with Sugar Trader.

Smith was born in Boston. He first made a name for himself with Shady Character, who earned $155,336 as a 2-year-old and $1.07 million the next season with trainer Brett Pelling.

Sara Waddon has had Blissed Out for only a few weeks, but she's learned the three-year-old colt is all business.

"He can be a little tough some days," said Waddon, who is the caretaker of Blissed Out for trainer Richard Banca. "He's got a lot of personality, but he's not one of those horses that wants to be your friend. He's not mean; he just likes his space."

Waddon, a 25-year-old from Hamilton, Ontario, has been working in harness racing for about five years. She previously worked with show horses and got her Standardbred trainer license last year.

"I've always worked with horses and I love doing it," Waddon said. "I met [owner-trainer] Eddie Howard and he got me started with Standardbreds. I'd like to get some horses and go from there. It would probably be hard to go on my own at first, but I really enjoy it."

Blissed Out drew post one and is the 9-5 favorite in the third division of opening heats for Thursday's Little Brown Jug. His heat also includes Meadowlands Pace winner Holborn Hanover, Santastic's Pan and The Preacher Pan. Waddon, whose past horses have included Lifetime Memories and Pinnacle, also is looking after Banca's Jug hopeful Rare Jewel. A son of Artiscape, Rare Jewel will start from post six in the first division of opening heat and is 6-1 in the morning line.

A son of 1999 Triple Crown winner Blissfull Hall, Blissed Out has won seven of 23 starts and earned $131,950 this year. In his most recent race, Blissed Out set a track record at Mohawk while winning a division of the Simcoe by nearly eight lengths over Armbro Balmoral.

It was his first and only start for Banca, who had bought the colt for $75,000 from Bob Burgess and Karin Olsson-Burgess, then sold him for $250,000 to Tony Chiaravalle after the Simcoe. Banca still trains the horse.

"This is nice, it's an experience," said Waddon, who is making her first trip to the Jug. "It would be great to win, that's what you work all year for. It's pretty cool here with the fair going on; you don't get that in Canada. The Jug Barn is beautiful; the gardens inside are gorgeous. It's definitely an experience."

Timesareachanging proved he can survive heat racing by winning the Adios in consecutive heats Aug. 14 at the Meadows, but trainer Brett Pelling isn't sure that's an advantage as he prepares the gelding for Thursday's $571,500 Little Brown Jug at the Delaware County Fair in Ohio.

"The fact he's done it before probably means he has a little more wear and tear on him," Pelling said. "It might be a little disadvantage, but it lets us have faith in him that he can come back strong in a second heat. We kind of knew that about him anyway; he's a very brave horse."

Twenty-four horses entered the Little Brown Jug -- the third jewel in pacing's Triple Crown -- which requires a horse to win two heats to be declared the winner. The top three finishers in each of three first-heat divisions will return for the second heat. If a first-heat winner fails to win the second heat, then the second-heat victor will join the three first-heat winners in a race-off.

In addition to winning the Adios, Timesareachanging finished in a dead-heat with stablemate Western Terror to win the Cane Pace and was second in the Messenger and Meadowlands Pace. Western Terror is the favorite in the first division of Jug heats and Blissed Out, who set the track record of 1:48.4 at Mohawk Racetrack in winning Sept. 11, is the favorite in the third.

Timesareachanging, driven by recently elected Hall of Famer Ron Pierce, has won seven of 14 starts and earned $780,220 this year. Western Terror, also trained by Pelling, has won two of 13 races and $322,492.

Both horses are owned by Perfect World Enterprises and are the only Jug participants to have raced in the finals of the first two legs of the Triple Crown, the Cane Pace on Labor Day at Freehold and Messenger on Sept. 14 at Harrington. The Triple Crown is being completed over a span of just 17 days.

"It takes a pretty good horse to survive that," Pelling said. "Western Terror is thriving; the racing seems to be helping him a lot. He didn't race as hard as Timesareachanging at the Meadowlands this summer and he's coming into his own."

Metropolitan, who won the Messenger by a length over Timesareachanging and Western Terror, drew post eight in the second division of opening heats.

Four Starzzz King was one of the top three-year-old pacers of the winter and spring, winning the Junior Trendsetter in February and Matt's Scooter series in March at the Meadowlands. Now, trainer Dave Sabatelli thinks he can be one of the top pacers of the fall.

A son of The Panderosa, Four Starzzz King has won nine of 16 starts and $334,659 this year. He was second in both the Berry's Creek and Provincial Cup in May, then took a two-month break. He returned at the end of July and was third in a division of the Oliver Wendell Holmes on August 7 at the Meadowlands. He won his last start on September 11 at Freehold Raceway, his first triumph since his victory in the Provincial Cup elims on May 23.

"He wasn't eligible to the North America Cup or Meadowlands Pace, so we planned on the break," Sabatelli said. "What we didn't plan on was him taking so long to get good again."

Four Starzzz King drew post one and is 7-2 in the second division of the opening heat in Thursday's Little Brown Jug. He is in the same first heat division as favorite Timesareachanging, who finished in a dead-heat win with Western Terror in the Cane Pace, and Messenger winner Metropolitan.

"I don't think he's a sleeper, I think he's legit," Sabatelli said. "He's got a lot of gate speed and I think he's got as good a shot as anybody. His last start was the first time he'd been his old self since the Provincial Cup. He handled Freehold's half-[mile track] pretty well, so I don't think that will bother him. He was real handy at Freehold."

The owners of Capt Silverheels -- trainer Craig Cornachione, Charlie Brown, Don Garner and Joyce Morris, all of Toledo -- several years ago decided to buy a horse while sitting around Brown's bar. They each put in $5,000 and the result was the purchase of the racing mare Polite Society. She failed to do much for the group on the track, but her first foal -- the homebred Capt Silverheels -- has earned $115,734 in his career. Unfortunately, Polite Society had to be euthanized in 2002 after breaking a pastern in a paddock accident while in foal.

"He's good," Cornachione said about Capt Silverheels, a son of 1998 Senior Jug winner Hi Ho Silverheels. "He was pretty steady at two. I wanted to [geld] him, but I was out-voted by the others. He's settled down here now. I think he's matured some and he's doing well."

Capt Silverheels has won five of 17 starts this year and earned $65,059. He won the $86,450 Indiana Sire Stakes Final in a career-best 1:51.3 on September 5 at Indiana Downs, a victory that stamped Capt Silverheel's ticket to the Jug.

"I originally didn't want to put him in, but we won that race and had a little money," said Cornachione, who is making his first appearance in the Little Brown Jug. "You never know what can happen. I think he can keep up. He had trouble making breaks earlier in the year, he went running in four of his first five, but we made some changes and he's been pretty good."

Capt Silverheels will start from post two in the first division of the opening heat. He is 12-1 in the morning line odds. Since June 20, Capt Silverheels has won five of 11 and hit the board in three other starts.

"I'm just hoping to get a prize," Cornachione said. "He can leave, even if he doesn't show it. He had been getting too hot, so we started racing him from off the pace. He's stepping way up in class, but if he doesn't get roughed up too much we'll see what happens. He was only beaten five lengths in the Cleveland Classic and he [started from post seven] and was parked three-quarters of the mile. It'll be interesting."

Trainer Jim Campbell sends out a pair of fillies, both homebreds for Arlene and Jules Siegel's Fashion Farms, in Wednesday's Jugette. In the first division of the first heat, Ice Sculpture (3-1) starts from post seven with Dave Palone driving. She comes into the Jugette with two consecutive wins at The Meadows in sires stakes events and four of five wins in her starts since a fifth-place finish in the Tarport Hap stake at The Meadowlands.

"In her defense, she drew bad every time she raced at The Meadowlands," says Campbell. "Any time she raced in a stake race there, she drew bad. It wasn't all her fault. She'll go around a half mile, but the seven post isn't a good deal. She's versatile, you can take her off [the gate], she can leave, too. Dave will have to wait and see how the race shapes up, see what he wants to do."

In the second division of the first heat, Fie Foe Fire has post six, with Dave Palone driving once again for Fashion Farm. "Her last start was probably her best start ever; she was really good that night at The Meadows [a two-length win on September 11 in 1:52.1 in a Pennsylvania Sires Stakes event. She was good in the [Pennsylvania Sires Stakes] final, too [on September 4], she just got caught in behind some that were stopping. "

It was her September 11 start that convinced Fie Foe Fire's connections to enter her in the Jugette, when she made the lead out of the gate from post seven. "She can step out there really quick," says Campbell, who trained Fie Foe Fire's mother, Fire On and says there are some similarities. "They've got the same kind of gait. Actually, her mother was third and third in the Jugette [in 1994]. Both are easygoing, with a big stride to them. She was pretty much a natural from day one."

Ted's Girl, starting from post six at odds of 4-1 in the first division of the first heat of the Jugette, has hit the board in a dozen of her 14 starts this year, but this time last year, she was far from a racetrack.

"She was the best-training filly in the barn all winter" says trainer Gaetan "Gates" Brunet. "But when we got back up north [Vernon Downs], she was sore, so we X- rayed and her growth plates were wide open. So we turned her out and she's better now. I had trained others in the same family and I knew you better off giving them time off and not pushing them. I have her two-year-old Magical Mike brother in training now, but her half sister showed the same kind of soreness. She [Ted's Girl] has a lot of speed; she's a half sister to Dauntless Bunny [1:49.1 and $506,027]. "She's a very nice filly, strong, very smart, a pleasure to be around."

Ted's Girl has five and three-quarter length win in NJ Sires Stakes event on August 14 at Freehold Raceway's half mile track and Brunet thinks her ability on a half will serve her well in the Jugette. "She had the rail [in the Sire Stakes event] and that was an advantage but she took the turns pretty easily, she corners pretty good and she's a handy filly. I drove her once this year and she left in [a first quarter of] :25.4 from the eight hole and hopefully a catch driver will do a little better," he laughed.

Track announcer at the Delaware, Ohio Fair, Roger Huston, will sign bobblehead dolls in his image at the Harness Racing Museum gift shop on Wednesday morning at 9:15 and Thursday morning at 9. The museum tent is located in the midway across from the final turn. The bobbleheads are $10 each and proceeds benefit the museum's promotion and preservation of the sport's history.

CAMPBELL SETS SIGHTS ON JUG AND UNIQUE TRIPLE CROWN SWEEP
John Campbell has accomplished just about everything possible for a driver. He is the sport's all-time money-winner with $224 million in purses. He holds the record for the most wins in the Meadowlands Pace (7), North America Cup (6), Hambletonian (5) and Breeders Crown series (40). He has won every Triple Crown race in each pacing and trotting, a total of 28, in fact. But he has never swept the Triple Crown races in the same year.

Now, Campbell is in the position to do just that -- sweep the pacing Crown's Cane Pace, Messenger and Little Brown Jug. Yet even if he does so, he will not have guided a horse to the Triple Crown. He drove Western Terror to a dead-heat win with Timesareachanging in the Cane, then returned to his regular drive aboard Metropolitan -- who failed to advance to the Cane Pace final -- to win the Messenger. He will be behind Metropolitan once again Thursday afternoon in the $571,500 Little Brown Jug at the Delaware County Fair in Ohio.

No driver in either the pacing or trotting Triple Crown has won all three of the series' races in a single year, but done so by driving at least two different horses. But if there can be a Tiger Slam for Tiger Woods owning all four of golf's majors at the same time, yet not in the same calendar year, why can't there be a Campbell Crown?

"I guess you could call it that," Campbell said with a laugh. "But it's more of an oddity than anything else. For a Triple Crown the horse has to do it. I wouldn't consider it [a Triple Crown] it would just be kind of an oddity."

Whatever it's called, Campbell will certainly have his work cut out for him after Metropolitan drew the far outside, the No. 8 post, in his Little Brown Jug opening heat, the second of three eight-horse divisions. That division also includes favorite Timesareachanging, who won the Adios -- also contested in heats -- and was second in the Meadowlands Pace and Messenger.

"He's up against it with the eight hole," said Campbell, who has won the Little Brown Jug three times, most recently with Nick's Fantasy in 1995. "He's in good form, but he's going to have to catch some kind of a break that would be considered good luck. Stranger things have happened. Depending on what happens at the start I'll want to try to leave with him, but I'm sure there are going to be two or three other horses inside of me who will want to do the same thing."

Metropolitan seemed to have put his bad luck in draws behind him when he got the rail for the Messenger, which he won in 1:52.2, a track record at Harrington for three-year-old pacers. His starting spots in other major races this year have been post 11 in the Hoosier Cup, post eight in the North America Cup, post 10 in the Meadowlands Pace and post eight in the Oliver Wendell Holmes. In addition, Metropolitan started from post seven in his Adios elimination race and post 10 in the Cane Pace elims.

Twenty-four horses entered the Little Brown Jug, which requires a horse to win two heats to be declared the winner. The top three finishers in each of the first-heat divisions will return for the second heat. If a first-heat winner fails to win the second heat, then the second heat victor will join the three first-heat winners in a race-off.

Western Terror is the favorite in the opening division of first heats and Blissed Out is the favorite in the third division.

Campbell will not have the luxury of simply qualifying for the second heat by finishing among the top three in his division if he hopes to claim the Jug with Metropolitan; winning the first heat is practically essential. The last horse that failed to win his first heat but still won the Jug was Nansemond, driven by Herve Filion, in 1971. Nansemond was second in his opening heat, won the second and then beat Albatross and HT Luca in a race-off. It is the only time it has happened since 1961.

"It's huge to win that first heat," Campbell said. "You have to pull out all the stop and can't worry about getting qualified and expect to win. It's just unrealistic to think that way. You have the three [first heat] winners draw inside of you, plus a third-place finisher in the nine hole, so you're giving up four good posts right there. If you give up that kind of advantage to speed horses in the second heat it's virtually impossible to win."

Blissed Out burst onto the Jug scene when he won a Simcoe division in a track record 1:48.4 at Mohawk on September 11. It was his first and only start for trainer Richard Banca, who had bought the colt for $75,000 from Bob Burgess and Karin Olsson-Burgess, then sold him for $250,000 to Tony Chiaravalle after the Simcoe. Banca still trains Blissed Out, who has won seven of 23 starts and earned $131,950 this year.

"I changed his shoes, changed some equipment," Banca said. "He had been wearing bar shoes up front and I changed him to all four aluminum. He had a Kant-See-Bak bridle and I changed him to a hood with cups. I'll probably train him on Monday and he'll leave [Toronto] on Monday afternoon."

Another colt entering the Jug on a roll is Santastic's Pan, trained and co-owned by Dan Altmeyer. Santastic's Pan, who is in the third division with Blissed Out and Meadowlands Pace winner Holborn Hanover, established the world record for three-year-old colt pacers on a five-eighths of a mile track when he won in 1:49.3 at the Meadows in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes event September 4. He won his Jug Preview division at Scioto Downs a week later.

"He's gotten pretty good the last couple weeks," Altmeyer said. "We put him on Lasix on Adios Day (Aug. 14) because we found he was bleeding in his previous start. That seems to have picked him up pretty good. He's a very game horse. He's an incredible horse as far as durability and guts. He's done more than I expected him to."
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