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March 30th, 2000 In order to enhance pacing's Triple Crown, a horse that wins the first leg of the series, the Cane Pace, will be eligible to compete in both the Little Brown Jug and the Messenger Pace, even though he may not be eligible to either event. Beginning with this year's Triple Crown, the owner of teh Cane Pace winner may pay a special Triple Crown entry fee of $35,000 to enter his horse in the Little Brown Jug, the second leg of the series. The same rule will apply to the third leg of pacing's Triple Crown, the Messenger Pace. If a horse wins both the Cane and Jug, but is not eligible to the Messenger, his owner may pay a second $35,000 supplementary fee to start in the Messenger. Also, beginning this year, the Cane and Messenger will stop accepting other supplemental entries. Nine horses have won the Triple Crown of Pacing since its inception in 1956, Blissful Hall being the latest in 1999. However, there have been several Cane and Messenger winners who were not eligible to the Jug and therefore not Triple Crown contenders. Cam Fella captured both the Cane and Messenger in 1982 but was not eligible to compete in the Jug. On The Road Again faced the same restrictions in 1984 after winning the Cane Pace. The Cane Pace launches the Triple Crown with $100,000 eliminations set for August 26 at Freehold Raceway in New Jersey. The $350,000 final will be raced on Monday, September 4. The 55th Little Brown Jug is scheduled for Delaware, Ohio on Thursday, September 21. The final leg, the $400,000 Messenger Pace, will be contested Saturday, October 14 at Ladbroke at the Meadows in Washington, Pa. The late Joe Neville, Jr., the Delaware attorney-sportsman and co-founder of the Little Brown Jug, conceived the idea of staging three races for three-year-old pacers. He patterned his idea after the Thoroughbred Triple Crown of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Bellmont Stakes. Yonkers and Roosevelt joined with Delaware in 1956 to form the Triple Crown. Roosevelt officials chose the name of their stake after the great champion, Messenger, and Yonkers honored its stake with the name of William Cane, from Goshen, NY's Historic Track and Hambletonian fame. The Messenger moved to The Meadows, a Pittsburgh area track, in 1985. The Cane was raced at Freehold for the first time in 1998. Triple Crown Winners
1959 Adios Butler |
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