As referenced on the COSA TV interview on Wednesday night, driver Ron Waples had a knack for engineering upsets in big races during his long and illustrious career. One of those upsets came in the 1992 Breeders Crown courtesy Village Jiffy.

Born 30 years ago today (April 2, 1990) Village Jiffy (Cam Fella - Village Jig) made 85 career starts and amassed a summary of 22-17-13. He banked $1,527,683 and took his mark of 1:50 as a five-year-old.

From those 22 career wins, he was never a longer shot than in that 1992 Breeders Crown Final. Trainer Bill Wellwood handed the lines over to Ron Waples for that stakes event, with the five-time winner sent off at odds of nearly 30-1. Not surprisingly, the entry of Presidential Ball and Riyadh were sent off at 4-5, with Bonnie And Clyde and Life Sign also receiving respect and support.

The race involved those four horses taking shots and turns at the lead. Riyadh (Brett Robinson) made the front first before yielding to Bonnie And Clyde (John Campbell) through a :27 opening quarter. Presidential Ball (Jack Moiseyev) was next to forge to the front, with Campbell and Bonnie And Clyde not yielding and forcing Presidential Ball to sit the pocket and prompt a :54.3 half.

Life Sign (Bill Fahy) popped off the rail to take a shot at the pacesetter with Riyadh also moving to second-over striking position down the backstretch. Village Jiffy was positioned third over. After a sharp 1:23.3 flashed up at the three-quarter mark, Waples tipped Village Jiffy three-wide around the final turn looking to take advantage of those hot early fractions. Life Sign finally overcame Bonnie And Clyde turning for home but his lead was short-lived as Village Jiffy powered past in the Pompano stretch to win the Breeders Crown by open lengths in 1:53.3.

The win was Waples' ninth in the Breeders Crown series and fourth at odds of 25-1 or greater.

"Maybe I should look for the 25-1 shots instead of the favourites, I guess," said Waples to Gary Seibel after the race in his typical style.

"Everything went real well, the pace was real strong on the front end and he was nice and relaxed, this colt, and I never had to ask him anywhere except where I went three-wide around the last turn with him. He won handy, really."

Village Jiffy battled this deep group of colts again in 1993, but only mustered three wins in 21 starts. As a four-year-old, Village Jiffy enjoyed his best season on the racetrack with a 8-6-5 summary from 28 starts and more than $578,000 in earnings en route to O'Brien Award honours as Canada's Older Pacer of the Year. His biggest win of that year was once again a Breeders Crown upset, once again involved Riyadh, but on this occasion Village Jiffy was guided by another driver who had a knack for Breeders Crown upsets, Paul MacDonell.

Village Jiffy passed away in June 2018 in British Columbia. Prior to his stallion stint in B.C. for JCS Veterinary Reproductive Services, Village Jiffy produced a long list of stars in Ontario including millionaires Tigerama (1:49.1 - $1,670,946), Dreamfair Vogel (1:49.3 - $1,179,514) and Village Blitz (1:50.4 - $1,004,477).