Jeff Gural, chairman of Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs and the managing member of the LLC which has leased the Meadowlands Racetrack, has been elected the 28th Little Brown Jug Wall of Fame honouree
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“This is a big honour for me," Gural said. "To be honest, my favourite two days of the year are when I come to Delaware for the Jugette and Little Brown Jug. Honestly, it is very depressing when the Jug is over because I will have to live another 363 days before the next one. I always say to myself, I hope I make it another year. I look forward to a lot fun….and I like the junk food, too.”
Gural grew up on Long Island, New York, near Roosevelt Raceway. “In those days, harness racing was very popular and when I was in high school, I started going to Roosevelt and Yonkers with my friends.”
Gural also owns and manages two standardbred farms, one in Stanfordville, NY and the other in Litchfield, Pennsylvania. Gural has been an owner and breeder of horses for over 35 years. In 2011, he had 35 mares and 25 yearlings.
In 1990, Gural co-owned Jugette champion Lady Genius along with Robert Bencal, Douglas A. Cass and David Stolz. “David and I grew up together, and after he moved to Columbus, Ohio we get together for the Jug. We have a great time.” Stolz’ company designs and prints the cover of the Delaware race programs. Gural also has raced horses in the Old Oaken Bucket and the Buckette, three-year-old stakes for trotting colts and fillies. “I haven’t raced in the Jug because most of my horses are trotters.”
The 2012 Wall of Fame honouree also sponsors the final of the Ms Versatility Aged Mare Trot each year during the Delaware Grand Circuit. Gural was elected to the little Brown Jug Society board of directors in 2010.
Gural has also received the 2006 Proximity Award from the U.S. Trotting Association, the 2004 Lee Anne Pooler Unsung Hero Award from the U.S. Harness Writers Association, the 2006 Stanley Bergstein Messenger Award from Harness Tracks of America, and the 2006 Frederick L. Van Lennep Award from the Hambletonian Society.
Gural is also the chairman of Newmark Knight Frank, a full-service commercial and industrial real estate management firm. Gural and his wife, Paula, live in Manhattan and have three children and six grandchildren.
“You know what makes Delaware and the Little Brown Jug so great is the large crowd, the county fair atmosphere which is a throw back to the old days, and heat racing. Heat racing is the most exciting racing there is.”
(Little Brown Jug)