John Berry: My favorite Little Brown Jug

Well, it’s finally here…Little Brown Jug week.

I have seen a lot of them…Lehigh Hanover getting by Coffee Break in 1962…Bret Hanover in 1965 after Curly got in the tractor and started scraping the mud away to make it all happen…Best Of All…Most Happy Fella…Nansemond—by a scant nose—Seatrain, who was a gelding so game that he probably could have raced until he was “Satchel Paige age”…many more after that, of course.

From the Tune Timers to George Smallsreed to the french fries that hang over the edge of the cup and the gents and their rakes smoothing over the hoofprints and footprints erasing those going back and forth to the famed stand housing the judges and Roger…

At this time of year, I am often asked about my favorite Little Brown Jug.

It’s a tough question to answer but, in these eyes, 1978 takes the cake!

It was the year where the greats Abercrombie, Falcon Almahurst and Flight Director would knock heads and hooves in this Little Brown Jug with others including League Leader, Wizard Almahurst, Distant Thunder Double Splendor and a few others would seek to pull off the upsets of all upsets.

And, then there was Happy Escort…a son of 1970 winner Most Happy Fella but, certainly, not thought to be in the same class as his daddy.

To say the luck of the draw plays a big role at Delaware, Ohio’s famed half-mile oval is a gross understatement…it’s BIGGER than big…and in a couple of ways!

With a field large enough not to be able to accommodate all starters back of the starting gate, this edition of the Little Brown Jug had two divisions and, as the luck of the draw would have it, Abercrombie, Falcon Almahurst and Flight Director all drew in the same division—the second division.

That was unlucky for those three…but very lucky for Happy Escort, who won the first division with a well rated mile in 1:57.2 for “Show Biz”—Bill Popfinger.

In that second division, Falcon Almahurst, handled by the great Billy Haughton, put his cards on the table by sprinting to an all-age, all time world record of 1:55.2, highlighted by a final half in :57 and a final quarter of :28.2 with Abercrombie second with Glen Garnsey handling the lines and Flight Director next for Joe O’Brien

I’ll never forget the crowd—some screaming out and others hushed in disbelief—as the opening quarter was an “electrifying” :27.4.

With the top four in each division coming back for another heat to finally determine the winner of this famed Little Brown Jug, things got only more muddled as Joe O’Brien guided Flight Director to victory in 1:57.

And where was Happy Escort?

Fourth! And an uneventful fourth, at that.

That brought the three heat winners together for an exhaustive third heat with the advantage to Flight Director, with the rail and Falcon Almahurst alongside with Happy Escort outside and not figured to be a player.

I’ll never forget the start as Showbiz looked like he had some inkling of leaving at the start…only to see Flight Director in full flight and Falcon Almahurst looking to get the garden trip but banking some lively fractions…that never seem to happen in a three-horse race-off on a half-mile oval with a stretch not even 400 feet in length.

So, they settled in a ho-hum 1-2-3 with Flight Director, Falcon Almahurst and Happy Escort in order as they entered the backside going to the opening marker.

But in an unexpected mover, Popfinger had Happy Escort brushing by his two foes and capturing them “flat-footed” by securing the lead at the opening quarter in :30.4.

“Yes,” Popfinger said, “I had the lights on, the horn honking and the pedal to the metal. I went by ‘em so fast that they probably got whiplash!”

Joe O’Brien had thoughts of coming back out…and he did for a couple of strides near the top of the stretch the first time…but Showbiz picked up the pace and forced Joe to go back in the two hole.

With nary a threat on the backstretch, Happy Escort had a third quarter “breather” of :32.2 with Show Biz now believing he had a chance to go on and win—a :28 finale holding off Flight Director at the wire with Falcon Almahurst next, about a length away.

The time was 2:00.4 but, as Show Biz recalled, “they don’t put the time on the check!

“They may have had better horses than I had in the final, but not two lengths better on a stretch that’s short like that!”

There were over 40,000 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds that day—the stands were packed…so were the barn rooftops…and there wasn’t an inch of fence surrounding the iconic half-mile oval that didn’t have someone leaning against it taking it all in.

And let’s not forget the attendees sitting on hay-bales in their trucks…

This, in my eyes, was the greatest drive in Jug history…and I shall never forget it!

May The Horse Be With You!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink