On most weekday afternoons, Dr. Jill Dentel and James Ehrsam are focused on their day jobs – Dentel as the owner of a veterinary clinic and Ehrsam as a township road crew chief – but Wednesday, Sept. 17 will be a bit different thanks to a three-year-old filly pacer named Rose Run Aimee.
On Wednesday afternoon, Rose Run Aimee will be among the 16 sophomore filly pacers competing in the eliminations of the Grade 1 Jugette at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in central Ohio. Dentel co-owns Rose Run Aimee with William Rufenacht, Gene Roth, and Jeffrey Bankey, and she is up regularly before daybreak to take care of the filly with the horse’s trainer, Ehrsam.
And Rose Run Aimee has rewarded their career juggling acts in a way no one expected a year ago, by going from the Ohio Fair Stakes to the Ohio Sires Stakes to the Grand Circuit. The daughter of Racing Hill-Private Performanc has hit the board in 17 of 21 career races, winning eight and earning $189,935, and twice equalled the Eldorado Scioto Downs track record for a three-year-old filly pacer (1:49.4) this summer.
Her performances prompted her connections to pay the $15,000 USD supplemental entry fee to get into the Jugette, since the filly was not originally staked to the event.
“When you do this like we do, we don’t have a stable of 20 horses, we only have a couple, this is a once-in-a-lifetime type deal, and we weren’t going to let it go by,” Dentel said. “We’re excited just to be here, and that’s the attitude we came to Delaware with. Hopefully, it’s not a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but we realize this very well could be. We’re here and we’re having fun with it. We’re having fun with a horse we love.”
Training down before her two-year-old season, Rose Run Aimee was a handful, and her previous trainer and co-owner wanted to sell his share in the filly. Dentel was presented with the chance to take 50 per cent ownership and provide a fresh start. After discussing the filly with Ehrsam, she did.
“Everyone had kind of written her off; they thought she was just a nut,” Dentel said. “We took her hoping to have a fun fair horse and ended up with a whole lot more. We never thought this would happen in a million years. It’s very exciting.”
Last year, Rose Run Aimee won three times on the Ohio Fair Stakes circuit. This year, she brought her game to a whole new level. She rolled through the Steve McCoy Series at Scioto, winning the June 13 final in 1:49.4 to equal the track record for three-year-old filly pacers. In her next start, also at Scioto, she won for the first time in the Ohio Sires Stakes (after two previous second-place finishes) and stopped the timer again in 1:49.4.
“There is nothing that this horse loves more than racing and more than winning,” Dentel said. “She is there every single day 110 per cent; every training session, every race. Knock on wood, she’s never given us a bad performance. She genuinely loves this. Nothing makes her happier than going to work every day. We tried to turn her out for two or three months last year when we finished, and I think we made it two weeks. She was bouncing around and always trying to drag me up to the track. She clearly wasn’t happy, so we put her back to work. She’s got heart, and that’s what is best about her.”
Not surprisingly, as Rose Run Aimee began flashing her talent, Dentel began receiving offers to sell the filly. That was never going to happen.
“Nothing is going to make me happy like she does,” Dentel said. “That’s why we’re here. We’re here to have fun with our horse. We’re here for the little guy that’s still trying to do it morning, noon, and night in-between a full-time job, who’s only got a couple horses in the barn, and show it can be done. It’s not easy, but it is possible. This is our one, and she’s meant a lot to a lot of people this summer.”
Rose Run Aimee will compete in the first of Wednesday’s $25,000 USD Jugette eliminations. She will leave from post two with Ronnie Wrenn Jr. in the sulky. She is the 5-2 morning-line favourite.
The top four finishers from each elimination will return later in the day for the $280,000 USD final.
“We’ll be nervous and excited, both,” Dentel said. “She doesn’t get nervous, thankfully. She handles it all. It doesn’t matter what race we’ve put her in, she’s been the same horse all year. We’re going to keep our fingers crossed. We drew well and we’re going to hope that she’s got what it takes to make it through the elimination, and we’ll go from there.”
Racing begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Delaware County Fairgrounds. The Jugette eliminations are races 18 and 19, with the final carded as 22. For more about the 55th edition of the Jugette and Thursday’s 80th Little Brown Jug, visit the Little Brown Jug website.
Following are the fields for the Jugette eliminations, with drivers, trainers, and morning-line odds.
Jugette Elimination Heat #1
Post - Horse - Driver - Trainer - Morning Line Odds
1. Millie May Hanover - Todd McCarthy - Andrew Harris - 9-2
2. Rose Run Aimee - Ronnie Wrenn Jr. - James Ehrsam - 5-2
3. Vel Cinderella - Tim Tetrick - Rob Rittof - 9-1
4. Skywalker Sea - Austin Hanners - Todd Luther - 7-1
5. Highland Delight - Yannick Gingras - Ben Hollingsworth - 20-1
6. Odds On Hialeah - Dexter Dunn - Virgil Morgan Jr. - 3-1
7. Rodeo Drive Deo - David Miller - Ron Burke - 7-2
8. Dirty Diana - James MacDonald - John Pentland - 20-1
Jugette Elimination Heat #2
Post - Horse - Driver - Trainer - Morning Line Odds
1. Lily White Hanover - Jason Bartlett - Andrew Harris - 4-1
2. Allegra Hanover - David Miller - Brian Brown - 7-1
3. Rose - Yannick Gingras - Ron Burke - 7-1
4. Odds On Chesapeake - Dexter Dunn - Virgil Morgan Jr. - 9-5
5. Time Of The Season - Andrew McCarthy - Tim Twaddle - 6-1
6. Papi Grad - Todd McCarthy - Steve Carter - 8-1
7. Gigglingonthebeach - James MacDonald - Juan Cano - 12-1
8. Sammy Joe Hanover - Tim Tetrick - Scott Di Domenico - 10-1
(USTA; photo of Rose Run Aimee winning on July 5, 2025)