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By Tom White
Meadow Lands, PA--Pine Valley went from also ran to Little Brown Jug
contender following his victory in Saturday's $454.245 Delvin Miller Adios at
The Meadows.
Second by a neck to Ready Cash in his Adios elimination,
longshot Pine
Valley shook loose along the inside in deep stretch to defeat Peruvian
Hanover by a length in 1:51.4 with On The Attack third. As the 25-l seventh
choice in the field of nine, Pine Valley returned $52.00, 16.20 and 8.00.
The victory was only Pine Valley's second of the season.
His other win
in 2001 came in his sophomore debut on June 23 at Scioto Downs when he
captured his division of the Tompkins-Geers in 1:54.1. Since then he broke
stride in his Motor City elimination at Hazel Park and was shuffled out of
the action in the American-National at Balmoral.
Trainer David Knight has said of Pine Valley, "We
planned to start him
late. He's eligible to the Little Brown Jug, Messenger and plenty more. A lot
of three year olds already have a dozen starts, and you'll see some of them
falling by the wayside."
The Adios triumph pushed the Jenna's Beach Boy colt's
earnings to
$253,201 and his winning time of 1:51.4 was almost three seconds faster than
his former mark.
His Adios victory has made Pine Valley one of the colt's to
watch as
"The Road to the Little Brown Jug" winds its way to Delaware, Ohio.
The 56th
Little Brown Jug will be raced Thursday afternoon, September 20 at the
Delaware, Ohio County Fair. The expanded six-day Delaware Grand Circuit
meeting begins Saturday, September 15.
There have been 10 Adios winners who have won the Little
Brown Jug, the
last being Precious Bunny in 1991.
Pine Valley, who was driven by Brian Sears, is owned by
Edward Franz and
John Knight of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Pennsylvanians Daniel Miller of
Coraopolis and Charles Gadja of Volant. He is by Jenna's Beach Boy from the
Albatross mare Assailed and was bred by Lou Arno of New Jersey.
The first Adios elimination was won by Fully Loaded by
one-half length in
1:51.1 over Peruvian Hanover and Full Of Fun. Ready Cash took the second in
1:51.3 by a neck over Pine Valley and On The Attack. Pre-race favorite LCB
captured the third elimination by a half-length in 1:51.2 over Oaks Enforcer
and Whosurboy.
Next on the "Road to the Jug" is the $40,000
Review on August 14 at
Springfield, Illinois; $500,000 Hoosier Cup on August 18 at Hoosier Park; and
the $600,000 Confederation Cup on August 19 at Flamboro Downs.
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