By Tom White
3/31/05

Village Jolt, Rocknroll Hanover, Shanghai Phil & Speed Demon Head 176 Entries To $650,000-Est. Little Brown Jug

Delaware, Ohio--Village Jolt, two-year-old colt champion pacer of 2004, heads a list of 176 pacing colts eligible to the 60th Little Brown Jug. The $650,000-est. Little Brown Jug will be raced on Thursday afternoon, September 22 at the Delaware, Ohio County Fair.

Other outstanding colts eligible to the Jug include Rocknroll Hanover, Shanghai Phil, Speed Demon, Allamerican Inca, Syncro's Z Tam, Leading X Ample and Dawn Of A New Day. Each year, Stan Bergstein, executive vice president of Harness Tracks of America, assesses the crop of three-year-old pacers and these eight Jug eligibles are in his Top 10 for 2005.

Village Jolt won the $432,000 Woodrow Wilson Final at The Meadowlands and the $663,200 Breeders Crown Final at Woodbine. The Cam's Card Shark colt is owned by Jeff Snyder of New York City and Arlene and Jules Siegel of New Hope, Pa. He is trained by Ed Hart and was driven by Ron Pierce. Bettor's Delight, in 2000, was the last Dan Patch freshman pacer honoree to win the Little Brown Jug. Village Jolt was also the richest two-year-old colt pacer of 2004 with winnings of $918,577 in only 10 starts. Village Jolt was a $50,000 Harrisburg, Pa. sales yearling.

Rocknroll Hanover became the first two-year-old ever to pace a sub-1:50 mile when he defeated Village Jolt and Shanghai Phil in 1:49.4 in the $933,086 Metro Pace Final at Woodbine. The Western Ideal colt, who was second to Village Jolt in the Dan Patch voting, won three of eight starts and $530,781 for owner Jeff Snyder. Brett Pelling trains Rocknroll Hanover and Brian Sears is his driver. The colt was a $190,000 sales yearling at Harrisburg, Pa.

Shanghai Phil scored back-to-back victories last fall at The Red Mile, winning a $156,700 division of the Bluegrass Stakes in 1:52.2 and a $179,200 division of the International Stallion Stakes in 1:51.2. He also won an elimination of the Breeders Crown and was third in both the Metro Final and Breeders Crown Final. The son of 1999 Jug champion Blissful Hall banked $476,907 in 13 starts for his owners, Chemvest Holdings, Hudson Racing Stable and Dustin Jones Racing Stable, all of Quebec. He is trained by Dustin Jones and Mike Lachance drove the colt late in the season. Shanghai Phil is a homebred.

Speed Demon won $286,906 in 13 starts including the $237,410 Matron Final at Dover Downs in a national season's record 1:51.4 on a five-eighths mile track. The son of Life Sign, who was recently voted the all time favorite Little Brown Jug winner in a USTA web poll, is owned by Perfect World Enterprises of Old Westbury, NY and trained by Brett Pelling, the same combination which produced 2004 Little Brown Jug winner Timesareachanging. Brian Sears drove Speed Demon in 2004. Speed Demon was a $100,000 Harrisburg sales yearling.

The Little Brown Jug is the second leg of Pacing's Triple Crown. The first leg is the Cane Pace scheduled for September 5 at Freehold Raceway. Harrington Raceway will host the third leg, the Messenger Pace, on October 17. If a horse wins the first leg of the Triple Crown series but is not eligible to the Little Brown Jug, his owner(s) may pay a $45,000 supplemental starting fee. There have been 10 Triple Crown winners, the last being No Pan Intended in 2003.

Jug Society Looking For Video of Good Time & Tar Heel

The Little Brown Jug Society is looking for film or video footage of 1949 Jug winner Good Time and 1951 champion Tar Heel. If you have any film footage, which has been transferred onto video tape, please contact Phil Terry (740) 972-6827 or 740-363-3754 or Tom White (859) 223-9288.