Millionaire pacing colts Well Said and Vintage Master will be the overwhelming favourites of 50,000 or so fans in next week’s 64th Little Brown Jug
to be raced at the Delaware County Fairgrounds.
Well Said won both the North America Cup and Meadowlands Pace, pacing’s two richest three-year-old stakes races, and prepped for the 'Jug' by winning last Saturday’s Simcoe Stakes in Ontario. Vintage Master, who has been solid all season, gained momentum with his victory over Labor Day weekend in the Cane Pace.
Jeff Snyder, who owns Well Said in partnership with Susan Grange’s Lothlorien Equestrian Centre, always frets about the draw for post positions because of Delaware’s half-mile track.
“I always hold my breath until I hear how my horse drew. Well Said has never raced on a half-mile track, but he’s the best and fastest horse I’ve ever had,” said trainer Steve Elliott. “The Jug is one of the few races I haven’t won and this is my best shot.”
Snyder, who will be bringing his granddaughter to Delaware this year, said “there is no other race that can compare to the Little Brown Jug. It is so exciting, so uplifting and there are so many people close to the action. And, I love walking around the fairgrounds.”
Snyder has started nine horses in the Jug and won in 2002 with Million Dollar Cam. However, Snyder’s favourite three-year-old colt, Cams Card Shark, suffered a career-ending injury when he was scratched 'lame' during the post parade in 1994. Three of Snyder’s Jug starters, Mystical Shark (1999), Royalflush Hanover (1999) and Village Jolt (2005) captured elimination heats. Rocknroll Hanover (2005) was jointly owned by Snyder and Susan Grange’s mother.
Well Said, who is heading for the stallion barn at Hanover Shoe Farms in 2010, holds a 3-1 advantage over Vintage Master in earlier match-ups this year. The son of 1992 Jug runner-up Western Hanover defeated Vintage Master in the Meadowlands Pace elimination and final and the Battle of the Brandywine. Vintage Master upset Well Said in the Adios Pace.
Vintage Master’s trainer, Jimmy Takter, thinks his colt can beat Well Said.
“I won the (2006) Jug with Mr Feelgood and he was a quick horse and could leave the gate, and 'Vintage' can leave the gate, too. In this race, you’re going to get a lot of respect for that.”
Following his Cane victory, Takter said “I got very emotional. This was the first time he cut the mile. He is the laziest horse God ever created. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a horse lazier than him. He is a character. His heat rate was 78 after the Cane Pace. We always check the heart rate on our horses about 12 minutes after the race, and mostly they are in the mid to high 90s. It’s like the horse never got put in gear. That’s what makes him special. I’m excited going into the Jug.”
Vintage Master, by Western Ideal, is a homebred owned by George Segal of Brittany Farms and Brian Monieson Trust.
(With files from the Little Brown Jug)