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Little Brown Jug can't compete

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- The field at the Sept. 20 running of the 62nd Little Brown Jug will be racing for the top annual achievement in harness racing for three-year-old pacers, but not the top money. Expanded gambling in other standardbred racing states has escalated purses outside the Pacing Triple Crown to more than double what the Little Brown Jug can offer.

The Little Brown Jug's 2006 purse of $541,000 can't compare to other key races in the season:

-- $1 million purses at the Art Rooney Pace at Yonkers Raceway in New York and the Meadowlands Pace at Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey, and

-- A $1.5 million purse at the North American Cup at Mohawk Raceway in Ontario.

Purses at the Meadowlands Pace and North American Cup races are so dramatically higher that the Triple Crown legs surrounding the Little Brown Jug are in real jeopardy of being replaced by them.

"Right now the Little Brown Jug offers a purse in line with the rest of the Pacing Triple Crown," says Jerry Knappenberger, general manager of the Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association. "The Cane Pace ran this year for $300,000 and the Messenger Stakes will run for about the same as the Jug purse or a little higher. But if the Jug were suddenly surrounded by purses twice as high in the rest of the Triple Crown, it would be at a major disadvantage in maintaining its reputation as the premiere race of the year."

Furthermore, Knappenberger says, the Messenger Stakes could claim that if races in the Triple Crown are under scrutiny for replacement, it should be retained because of its ability to run at slots gambling-supported Yonkers Raceway.

"Yonkers already supports one of the top purses in the racing season," Knappenberger says. "Because of slots gambling there the race track could help support the Messenger Stakes purse so it could get closer to $1 million. The Little Brown Jug doesn't have that option because there is no other money source to increase its purse."

In 2006 the Little Brown Jug stakes fell to a 12-year low. The last time the Jug ran for less than $541,000 was in 1994's $512,830 stakes. The Jug depends on its continuing prestige to generate competitive purses, because the nomination and sustaining fees of would-be participants provide the bulk of the prize money. The Little Brown Jug and Delaware County Agricultural societies only have betting handle contributions from the Delaware County Fair racing slate, plus minimal state support from the Ohio Fairs Fund, to further increase the purse.

"The Little Brown Jug will continue, but its status is at risk," Knappenberger says. "If Ohio wants to preserve one of the state's top annual attractions, it needs to take a look again at expanded gambling. There's just no other way to get purses back in line with races in other states."

The average purse per standardbred race is $3,909, vs. the national average of $7,684 and well below the average of $14,245 at tracks with purses supported by expanding gambling.

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