By Tom White
April 3, 2003

Delaware, Ohio--Allamerican Native, Yankee Cruiser, Whatanartist and Totally Western, four of the top five colts on the U.S. Trotting Association's Experimental Championship Ratings, are among 162 three-year-old male pacers eligible to the $575,000 Little Brown Jug. The 58th Little Brown Jug will be raced Thursday afternoon, September 18 at the Delaware, Ohio County Fair. Grand Circuit racing will get underway Saturday afternoon, September 13 and continues through Thursday, September 18.

Since 1966, Harness Tracks of America's Stanley Bergstein has projected the top three-year-old pacers. This year, Bergstein tabbed "Two-Year-Old Champion" Allamerican Native to head the list followed by Yankee Cruiser (No. 3), Whatanartist (No. 4) and Totally Western (No. 5).

Delaware Race Secretary Tom Wright added that 21 of the 30 ranked   colt and geldings are eligible to the Jug. "We have a fantastic group of colts." 

Allamerican Native won early (New Jersey Sires Stakes on June 20) and late (Governor's Cup, December 7). He was overpowering at times but not invincible. He paced to his record of 1:51.1 in wining the $650,000 Woodrow Wilson Final by eight lengths, but was defeated in his next three starts. He bounced back to win  an elimination of the Breeders Crown in 1:51.2, but was second, by 5 1/4 lengths behind Totally Western, in the $594,600 final. Then John Campbell took over, and the son of  Presidential Ball finished out the season with victories  in the $235,050 Matron and $520,000 Governor's Cup Finals. He banked a total of $948,017 for owners David Scharf, A & G Stables and Jerry Silva. He is trained by Mark Capone.

Yankee Cruiser, an Artiscape colt trained by the late Brian Pinske, won 9 times in 13 starts, raced in 1:51.2 and earned $342,994 with Dave Magee in the sulky. Yankee Cruiser, third in the voting for 2YO Colt Pacer, swept the Bluegrass and International Stallion Stakes, beating such top contenders as Totally Western and Armbro Animate. He finished 8th in the Breeders Crown. Yankee Cruiser is owned by the Brian Pinske Stable, Nick Barbieri and Pinske Stables.

Jules and Arlene Siegel's homebred colt Whatanartist earned $352,667 with victories in the Bluegrass over Bradley Hall, Arden Downs, Smullin Memorial and Pennsylvania Sires Stakes. The Real Artist colt was third behind Totally Western and Allamerican Native in the Breeders Crown Final and second to Allamerican Native in the Governor's Cup Final. He took a mark of 1:52f for trainer Jim Campbell.

The Western Hanover colt Totally Western defeated Allamerican Native in the $594,600 Breeders Crown Final after finishing second to the Native in his elimination. Trained and co-owned by Ben Wallace and Joie de Vie Farm, Totally Western won over Allamerican Captor in  the Bluegrass and finished second to Yankee Cruiser in the International Stallion Stakes, Lexington's major juvenile events. Totally Western won $387,434 and took a mark of 1:52.2. The U.S. Harness Writers voted him fourth  best two-year-old colt pacer of 2002.

Other major hopefuls include Allamerican Captor, Allamerican Magic, Articulator, Armbro Animate, Artist's Icon, Bradley Hall, Brooklyn Hanover, Cozy's Scooter, Gotta Feeling, Gone West, It's Time, Iced Yankee, Pass The Deck, Strait At Ya, Tommy's Luck, The Globe and Twin B Dynamic.

The Jug is the next-to-last leg of the $1 million Grand Slam bonus. For the third straight year the owners of any pacer who can sweep the North America Cup on June 21 (Woodbine Racetrack, Ont.), the Meadowlands Pace on July 12 (Meadowlands Racetrack, NJ), the Little Brown Jug, and the Breeders Crown on November 29 (Meadowlands) will collect $1 million.  No pacer has accomplished this feat.

The Jug is also the middle jewel of Pacing's Triple Crown which also includes the Cane Pace on September 1 (Freehold, NJ) and the Messenger Pace on October 18 (The Meadows, Pa). Blissfull Hall, in 1999, was the last of nine pacers to sweep the Pacing Triple Crown series.