Jug victory dashes hopes of local owner

DELAWARE — It seemed a foregone conclusion going into the Little Brown Jug on Thursday that Downbytheseaside or Fear The Dragon would give Ostrander’s Brian Brown the win he had long coveted in the biggest race on his home track.

No one, however, told Filibuster Hanover.

Trained by Ron Burke and driven by Yannick Gingras, Filibuster Hanover rocketed to the lead and never looked back, capturing the final heat of the $590,400 Jug at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in 1 minute, 50 seconds.

Leaving from post 2, Filibuster Hanover, sent off at 5-1, led the field through every step of the race to win by a length. Funknwaffles took second and Miso Fast third. Fear The Dragon was fourth.

“I said all along I thought this horse was coming into a good spot,” Burke said after the race.

Filibuster Hanover gave a preview of his prowess in the first of the two-heat race, when he rallied from fourth in the stretch to finish a neck behind winner Fear The Dragon. Fear The Dragon brought some question marks into the race, having last raced nearly a month ago due to an adverse reaction to a flu shot. But he seemed to put those doubts to rest with his victory.

“We thought he would be much better,” Brown said after the first heat. “He showed it. That seems to be the way he races. He’ll go on the front if necessary, but he likes to be following and coming at the end.”

Favorite Downbytheseaside lacked racing room and finished fifth that heat, and Brown opted to change his bridle and limit his field of vision in hopes of focusing his attention. Bettors liked the change enough to send him off as the final-heat favorite at 1-1.

The change, however, seemed to backfire, as Downbytheseaside raced outside horses for much of the final and finished fifth.

“Looking back, I wish I hadn’t (changed his equipment),” Brown said. “He was too aggressive. … He had to come too early, and it just ran him into the ground.”

Fear The Dragon, sent off as the final’s second betting choice, raced fourth much of the mile and ended up there. Driver David Miller, a Columbus native going for his fifth Jug victory, said the race just didn’t go his way.

“We kind of got jammed up, because Downbytheseaside started backing up pretty quick there,” he said. “I got into a bad spot.”

Brown, however, said the race was lost even earlier.

“Even though he had some room late, David said the horse wasn’t really good in the second heat,” he said.

Burke noted in the winner’s circle that Filibuster Hanover had to overcome some previous physical challenges to even get to the Jug. But his training leading up to the Jug — and his first heat performance — were signs the pacer had finally hit his stride.

“The last four weeks he really turned it around,” Burke said. “Before that he wasn’t sound; he wasn’t sharp. He had a few things soundness-wise. He had some little things that bothered him. In maybe the last two months we got him where we needed to get him.”

“He was loaded finishing in the elimination,” Gingras said. “I had plenty of pace.”

It was Filibuster Hanover’s fifth win in 26 career races and brought his lifetime earnings to more than $500,000 for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Joe Di Scala Jr., J and T Silva Stables LLC, and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. The victory was the second Jug for Burke and Gingras, who partnered on 2014 winner Limelight Beach.

For Brown, whose Lost For Words came up a nose short in the 2015 Jug, the result was hard to take.

“I came in here and thought I had a chance to win the Jug,” he said. “It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Ohio State communication students Mac Connor and Kaitlyn Beale contributed to this article.

By Nicole Kraft For The Columbus Dispatch

Reprinted with permission of The Columbus Dispatch