Hall of Fame driver John Campbell seems to have all of the cards for
this
year's Little Brown Jug. Not only has the native of Alisa Craig,
Ontario
been the regular pilot for the early Jug favorite Mach Three, but
this
weekend he found himself in the winner's circle with two other
sophomore
colts in two important Jug preps.
In the $500,000 Coors Delvin Miller Adios, Campbell was expected to
be in
the winner's circle with Red River Hanover, but it was stablemate
Million
Dollar Cam that took the "Pace for the Orchids." After
winning his
elimination by a head in 1:51 4/5, Million Dollar Cam was sent from
post
three in the final. As the gates wings folded, Third Straight
(Daniel Dube)
fired out of post nine and held the lead past the quarter pole in
:26 1/5.
Soho (Richard Silverman), the second elimination winner, tipped out
and led
Third Straight and Million Dollar Cam past the half in :54 1/5. The
final
half mile turned into a match race as Soho and Million Dollar Cam
dusted
the field and battled down the lane. At the wire it was Million
Dollar Cam
beating Soho by three parts of a length in 1:50 4/5. Kilowatt (David
Palone) was third, 11 3/4 lengths behind the son of Cam's Card
Shark.
Million Dollar Cam has won eight of 15 seasonal starts and $359,000
for
owner, Jeffrey Snyder of New York. The 2002 Adios victory was
Snyder's
second Adios crown and a record seventh for Campbell.
Hours after winning the Adios, Campbell took his show to Hoosier
Park for
the $500,000 Hoosier Cup.
In the second elimination, Campbell guided Art Major to a three
length
victory over stablemate Royal Mattjesty (Mike Lachance) in a career
best
1:50 3/5. McArdle (Mike Lachance) took the first $25,000 elimination
in
1:51 1/5 over Mini Me (Dale Hiteman) and Henry Clay (Dave Magee). In
the
$450,000 final, Campbell sent Art Major for the lead and was quickly
joined
by McArdle, who led the field past the quarter mile pole in :26 1/5.
Royal
Mattjesty (Andy Miller) was the first to challenge McArdle on the
outside
as Art Major sat on the rail in third. As the field turned for home,
McArdle was still in control, until Art Major found some daylight
and
nailed McArdle in the final strides to score a half length victory
in 1:50
4/5. Art's Tribute (David Miller) closed strong for the show spot.
Owned by
Sampson Street Stable, TLP Stable, Deena Frost, and Jerry Silva, Art
Major
now has $381,897 in career earnings. Art's Major joins his full
brother,
Perfect Art, as a Hoosier Cup winner. Perfect Art was the winner of
the
inaugural event in 1997.
The Road to the Little Brown Jug continues next Sunday at the
C$600,000
Confederation Cup at Flamboro Downs.
