Little Brown Jug (horse racing)

For other uses, see Little Brown Jug (disambiguation).

Little Brown Jug

Triple Crown race
Location	County Fairgrounds, Delaware, Ohio, USA
Inaugurated	1946
Race type	Harness race for standardbred pacers
Website	www.littlebrownjug.com
Race information
Distance	1,609 meters (1 mile)
Surface	Dirt
Qualification	3yo
Purse	$700,000 (2014)

The Little Brown Jug is a harness race for three-year-old pacing standardbreds hosted by the Delaware County Agricultural Society since 1946 at the County Fairgrounds in Delaware, Ohio. The race takes place every year on the third Thursday after Labor Day. Along with the Hambletonian, a race for trotters, it is one of the two most coveted races for standardbred horses. Little Brown Jug, a pacer, who won nine consecutive races and became a USTA Hall of Fame Immortal in 1975 had the world's premium pacing event is named in his honour.

History

It began in 1937 when the Delaware County Agricultural Society's members, at their annual meeting, voted to move the County Fair, held since its inception at Powell, to Delaware on a tract of land at the northern edge of the city. Two years later a half-mile track was built and provided the stage for harness racing. R.K. McNamara, a local contractor, designed and built the lightning fast track. Enter attorney Joe Neville, whose family had been identified with the standardbred sport for many years, and his friend, Henry C. "Hank" Thomson, sports editor of The Delaware Gazette. Neville, who had campaigned horses on the Grand Circuit and was familiar with its officers and stewards, was successful in obtaining Grand Circuit dates for the new Delaware track. Neville, concerned over the years by the emphasis placed on the trotter, turned his efforts toward showcasing the pacers, particularly the 3-year-olds. The Little Brown Jug Society was formed to stage the Grand Circuit meeting. Neville headed the organization with Thomson as secretary-treasurer. Then came the birth of the Little Brown Jug, named through a newspaper contest, with its previews in 1944 and 1945. The initial Jug in 1946, with a purse of $35,358, was won by Ensign Hanover with Delaware's Wayne "Curly" Smart driving. Smart, a most successful trainer-driver on the Grand Circuit, was later to become an integral part of the Jug's operation as the track superintendent. Over the years the track monopolized the half-mile record section with world standard performances, mainly through Smart's skill in maintaining the fastest racing strip of its size in the country.

Through its humble beginnings, the Jug grew slowly to become perhaps the most traditional stake on the pacing gait. In 1956 the Jug provided the anchor for the newly designated Triple Crown of Pacing to go along with The Cane Pace at Yonkers (N.Y.) Raceway and the Messenger Stake then at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, N.Y. The Little Brown Jug is contested in heats. The first heat is split into several divisions, with the top finishers in each division returning to contest the second heat. A horse wins the Little Brown Jug by winning both heats. If a horse does not win both heats, a race off is conducted between the first heat division winners, and the winner of the second heat, to determine the champion.

The Little Brown Jug is the second leg of the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers.

Ever since 1946 the administrators of the Little Brown Jug have glazed the winners of the horse race on a jug. In 2005, they ran out of room on the first jug and had to make another one. This time, instead of making it out of clay, they made it out of plastic so it would be lighter. The little brown jug is played during the Delaware county fair.

Winners

Year	Winner	Driver	Owner	Time
1946	Ensign Hanover	Curly Smart	Castleton Farm	2:07.1
1947	Forbes Chief	Del Cameron	Newport Stock Farm	2:05.0
1948	Knight Dream	Frank Safford	Armstrong Bros & Gray Bros	2:07.1
1949	Good Time	Frank Ervin	Good Time Stables	2:03.2
1950	Dudley Hanover	Del Miller	Hayes Fair Acres	2:03.2
1951	Tar Heel	Del Cameron	W N Reynolds Estate	2:00.0
1952	Meadow Rice	Curly Smart	W G Reynolds	2:02.3
1953	Keystoner	Frank Ervin	George H Tipling	2:09.3
1954	Adios Harry	Morris MacDonald	J Howard Lyons	2:03.2
1955	Quick Chief	Billy Haughton	Farmsted Acres & John Froelich	2:00.2
1956	Noble Adios	John Simpson	Paul Wixom	2:00.4
1957	Torpid	John Simpson	Sherwood Farms	2:03.4
1958	Shadow Wave	Joe O'Brien	Sol A Camp Farms	2:01.0
1959	Adios Butler	Clint Hodgins	Paige West & Angelo Pellillo	2:00.4
1960	Bullet Hanover	John Simpson	Murphy, Simpson & Miller	1:59.3
1961	Henry T. Adios	Stanley Dancer	Dr & Mrs Nicholas Derrico	2:05.0
1962	Lehigh Hanover	Stanley Dancer	Lehigh Stables	1:59.3
1963	Overtrick	John Patterson	Helen Buck	1:57.3
1964	Vicar Hanover	Billy Haughton	Donald MacFarlane	2:01.0
1965	Bret Hanover	Frank Ervin	Richard Downing	1:57.0
1966	Romeo Hanover	George Sholty	Morton Finder	1:59.3
1967	Best Of All	Jim Hackett	Samuel Huttenbauer	2:00.0
1968	Rum Customer	Billy Haughton	Kenilworth Farms & Mancusos'	1:59.3
1969	Laverne Hanover	Billy Haughton	Thomas W Murphy Jr	2:00.2
1970	Most Happy Fella	Stanley Dancer	Egyptian Acres Stable	1:57.3
1971	Nansemond	Herve Filion	Perry, Camp & Capital Hill Farm	1:57.2
1972	Strike Out	Keith Waples	Beejay Stables	1:56.3
1973	Melvin's Woe	Joe O'Brien	Thurman Downing	1:59.2
1974	Armbro Omaha	Billy Haughton	J Elgin Armstrong	1:58.4
1975	Seatrain	Benny Webster	Lee Benson	1:59.4
1976	Keystone Ore	Stanley Dancer	Perry, Jones, Dancer, Dancer & Hild	1:57.2
1977	Governor Skipper	John Chapman	Ivanhoe Stables	1:56.2
1978	Happy Escort	Bill Popfinger	Keystone Arbor Stables	2:00.4
1979	Hot Hitter	Herve Filion	Solomon Katz, S A J & Alterman Stables	1:55.3
1980	Niatross	Clint Galbraith	Elsie Berger, Clint Galbraith	1:54.4
1981	Fan Hanover	Glen Garnsey	J Glen Brown	1:58.4
1982	Merger	John Campbell	Morrisey, Ord, Muldering & Campbell	1:56.3
1983	Ralph Hanover	Ron Waples	Waples, Firlotte, Pointsetta & Grants Direct Stables	1:55.3
1984	Colt Fortysix	Chris Boring	Proudfoot Farms	1:55.2
1985	Nihilator	Bill O'Donnell	Wall Street Stable & Nihilator Syndicate	1:52.1
1986	Barberry Spur	Bill O'Donnell	Roy Davis & Barberry Farms	1:52.4
1987	Jaguar Spur	Dick Stillings	Roy Davis & Barberry Farms	1:55.3
1988	B. J. Scoot	Michel Lachance	Sybarite Stable	1:52.3
1989	Goalie Jeff	Michel Lachance	Centre Ice Stable	1:54.1
1990	Beach Towel	Ray Remmen	Uptown Stables	1:53.3
1991	Precious Bunny	Jack Moiseyev	R Peter Heffering	1:55.0
1992	Fake Left	Ron Waples	Status Stables	1:54.4
1993	Life Sign	John Campbell	Brittany Stable	1:52.0
1994	Magical Mike	Michel Lachance	Shadow Lane Farm & David McDuffee	1:52.3
1995	Nick's Fantasy	John Campbell	Markenjay Stud & Perfect World Enterprises	1:51.2
1996	Armbro Operative	Jack Moiseyev	Thomas Walsh, Jr. & David McDuffee	1:52.6
1997	Western Dreamer	Michel Lachance	Matthew, Patrick & Daniel Daly	1:51.1
1998	Shady Character	Ron Pierce	Sanford & Corinne Goldfarb	1:52.3
1999	Blissful Hall	Ron Pierce	Daniel Plouffe	1:55.3
2000	Astreos	Charalambos Christoforou	Chrysomilas, Christoforou & Banjo Farms	1:55.3
2001	Bettor's Delight	Michel Lachance	John B Grant	1:51.4
2002	Million Dollar Cam	Luc Ouellette	Jeffrey Snyder	1:50.2
2003	No Pan Intended	David Miller	Robert Glazer	1:53.0
2004	Timesareachanging	Ron Pierce	Perfect World Enterprises	1:51.3
2005	P-Forty Seven	Dave Palone	Maynard, O'Donnell & Mullinax	1:52.1
2006	Mr Feelgood	Mark MacDonald	Canamerica Cptl, Diversity Stable & Lindy Farm	1:50.3
2007	Tell All	Jodie Jamieson	My Desire Stable	1:52.0
2008	Shadow Play	David Miller	Serge Savard, Ian Moore & R G McGroup	1:50.1
2009	Well Said	Ron Pierce	Jeffrey S Snyder & Lothlorien	1:51.4
2010	Rock N Roll Heaven	Dan Dube	Frank Bellino	1:49.2
2011	Big Bad John	David Miller	Ed Telle	1:50.0
2012	Michael's Power	Scott Zeron	Jeffrey Snyder	1:50.0
2013	Vegas Vacation	Brian Sears	West Wins Stable, Adriano Sorella, Beaton, and Saunders	1:50.0
2014	Limelight Beach	Yannick Gingras	Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, M1 Stable, and Wingfield Bros	1:50.4
2015	Wiggle It Jiggleit	Montrell Teague	George Teague Jr Inc.	1:49.3