Mister Big made history last season when he became the first pacer to win the William R. Haughton Memorial in back-to-back years. On Saturday, the six-year-old will try to become the first three-time winner of the race
. (Four Starzzz Shark won in 2002 and 2004.) The Virgil Morgan Jr.-trainee leads a field of nine in the $688,000 event.
The 2007 Haughton, it turned out, was Mister Big’s coming out party. The horse won the race from Post 10, and went on to earn $1.3 million and capture the Dan Patch Award for best older male pacer. The Haughton victory came just a few weeks after the death of Virgil Morgan Sr., who was known as Big Virg.
Last year, Mister Big won 11 of 14 races, including the Haughton and Breeders Crown, and banked $1.5 million. Again, he was named his division’s top horse. He has been no worse than second in 14 of the last 17 major stakes finals in which he raced, winning 10 of them. He won the Dan Patch Invitational by a neck over Winbak Speed on June 20 at Hoosier Park.
“Mister Big came along right when my dad became ill,” Morgan Jr. said recently. “He didn’t really get to experience him, at least not like I would have liked. He was known as Big Virg, so it is kind of unique, having the horse Mister Big. I just wish he could have experienced more. I’ve been blessed to have a lot of great horses and to win a lot of big races, but it would be really special to have him around for this ride.”
Including Mister Big, the Haughton field includes six horses with career earnings in excess of $1 million: Art Official, Dali, Palone Ranger, Shark Gesture and Won The West.
Art Official won last year’s $1.1 million Meadowlands Pace, handing eventual Horse of the Year Somebeachsomewhere the only loss of his career, as well as the Hoosier Cup and Cane Pace. Shark Gesture won the 2006 Breeders Crown as a three-year-old at Woodbine Racetrack, beating Mister Big by 1-1/2 lengths. Earlier this year, he won the Graduate at the Meadowlands. Won The West is a two-time American-National Stakes winner and captured the 2008 Dan Patch Invitational. Dali won the 2008 Matron Stakes and 2007 Woodrow Wilson. Palone Ranger won the 2006 Messenger Stakes.
The remainder of the field is Bettor Sweet, Dragon King and Winbak Speed.
Bettor Sweet on May 9 paced the fastest race mile in history by a four-year-old, winning in 1:47.2 at the Meadowlands. He won the Pacing Classic at Mohawk on June 13 and won the 2008 Progress Pace. Winbak Speed won this year’s Presidential Series at the Meadowlands and two legs of the Classic Series.
(Harness Racing Communications)