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By Tom White This year’s fastest Experimental rating has been given to a colt that did not dominate the major 2-year-old stakes, nor was he the fastest or the richest of the season. Rather, the top rated colt was the one that showed clearly at season’s end that he had the makings of a major star.
The top-rated colt in the 2000 Experimental ratings of 3-year-old pacers is Ain’t No Stopn Him, a Western Hanover gelding that couldn’t beat his shadow and showed no interest in racing last spring. But he scored thunderous victories in September and October before being put away sound, fresh and healthy. Ain’t No Stopn Him is predicted in the ratings, which consider only colts and fillies that raced at 2, to pace a mile in 1:49. The annual Experimental Ratings are the work of Stan Bergstein, executive vice-president of Harness Tracks of America and a member of harness racing’s Hall of Fame. Bergstein’s first ratings appeared in 1965 and are compiled by the U.S. Trotting Association. The ratings also serve as the first listing of leading contenders for the Little Brown Jug. Bergstein explains why he has made Ain’t No Stopn Him his top choice for the new century. "Experience is -- or should be -- a teacher, and one lesson it has taught in the last decade is that fewer and fewer top 2-year-olds are carrying their form to their 3-year-old seasons. "Whether that is because of grinding schedules, greater speed or whatever, it is time to move with the flow." Ain’t No Stopn Him never faced his more heralded classmates, and was a slow and reluctant learner.However, he showed enough potential at season’s end against good horses. He won for John Campbell, Jack Moiseyev and Dave Palone in three straight starts to warrent selection as most likely to succeed this year. The colt is owned by John Celii, Craig Stephen Lipka and Joseph Hurley. Celii purchased him for $50,000 from the Hanover Shoe Farm consignment at Harrisburg. He is the 14th foal of his Bret Hanover dam Suave Almahurst. Trainer Joe Holloway thinks the slow-developing colt has sub-1:50 potential. In his final three starts Ain’t No Stopn Him won the $50,000 Keystone Classic at The Meadows by 11 lengths in 1:52.4; the $46,314 Standardbred at Delaware, Ohio by 12 lengths in 1:54; and the $27,308 Pa. All Stars at Pocono Downs by 3 1/2 lengths in 1:54.3. "It’s a big step up from a trainer having to rattle a can of rocks to get a colt’s attention in the spring to top rating in the Experimentals the following winter,’ said Bergstein. ‘Holloway, however, sends Ain’t No Stopn Him into 2000 a fresh horse, something the big-name leaders of the freshman class of ‘99 were not at season’s end." Bergstein believes they were, as a group, tired horses by the time autumn rolled around. If recent history repeats, some of them will suffer from the grind of last year and not live up to their 2-year-old billings when the curtain goes up on the major stakes this summer. They may still be the colts to beat, however, and two of the top colts from 1999 -- Tyberwood and The Firepan -- are rated just behind Ain’t No Stopn Him at 1:49.1 and 1:49.2, respectively. Another late-blooming juvenile, Powerful Toy, is rated fourth at 1:49.3 and Astreos, at 1:49.4, rounds out the top five. All five of the top colts are eligible to the $568,770-estimated Little Brown Jug scheduled for Thursday afternoon, September 21 at the Delaware, Ohio County Fairgrounds. 2000 Experimental Championship Ratings
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