A bit of catching up

by John Berry

Our free-for-allers are getting ready for their blazing miles over the ovals of North America and our youngsters are getting ready to embark on their, hopefully, great racing careers that are just a few lengths down the track heading to a starting gate near you. So, while we have this brief moment in time, we’ll catch up on a couple of the many inquiries received about our great, but now fragile, history.

The first inquiry comes from Gary A from Florida, who was “coerced” into enjoying his very first Little Brown Jug last season.

Gary asked, “Can you tell me a little something interesting about the Little Brown Jug, and how it got its name? By the way, the ‘Jug’ will be a yearly tradition for me now.’”

Actually, the history of the famed Little Brown Jug event began to take shape many years prior to the foaling of the horse, Little Brown Jug.

The horse, Little Brown Jug was foaled (ca.) 1875 but the story leading up to his foaling dates back around 26 years prior to that, 1849, with the “foaling” — actually, birth, of one William H. McCarthy — familiarly known as “Knapsack.”

McCarthy was not an educated youngster growing up — he couldn’t read or write — but his knowledge of horses became “Harvard-like” as he learned the trade from horseman Dan Mace.

He started at the ground up and the lowest rung on the ladder, bringing all his belongings in a knapsack.

McCarthy became recognized by his peers as one of the elite horsemen in terms of knowledge, patience, and love of his horses and earned accolades throughout the land.

One of McCarthy’s prized students was a Tom Hall gelding by the name of Little Brown Jug.

On Aug. 24, 1881, Little Brown Jug forever etched his name in the record books in Hartford, CT as McCarthy drove the then 6-year-old to a world record performance of 2:11 3/4, eclipsing the record of the now fabled (and blind) Sleepy Tom, who had achieved a 2:12 1/4 record in Chicago approximately two years earlier.

Indeed, Little Brown Jug was one of the premier performers of his era, winning 17 of 24 races.

This, of course, was in the days of the high-wheeled sulky and McCarthy also had several other Currier and Ives worthy horses such as Hopeful and Charlie Ford. And, when the bicycle wheel sulky was invented, McCarthy campaigned the pacers Searchlight and Frank Egan along with the trotters Pro and Norman B, among others.

McCarthy died in a race in Carrollton, IL in 1917.

The horse, Little Brown Jug, died in 1899 but his name — and subsequent fame — did not begin to emerge for lasting historical purposes until some four decades later.

In 1937, the Delaware Agricultural Society voted to move the County Fair Grounds site to the edge of some land in Delaware, OH.

A couple of years later, a half-mile track was constructed by a local contractor, R. K. McNamara, who designed and built the now iconic half-mile oval.

Joe Neville and Hank Thomson were the gents that got things rolling, along with a gentleman who resided at 219 Fountain Street — just a few blocks away — Wayne Smart, known around the racing circles as “Curly.”

In early 1940, the Delaware County Fair was but two years old and received an invite to put the finishing touches on their year-old racetrack and join harness racing’s elite traveling show — The Grand Circuit.

There were many skeptics that cautioned against accepting the invite and that the facility could never be ready in such a short time to host an event of this magnitude, after all, there had not been one single structure built on the property when the first fair was held in 1938.

Neville was an attorney whose family had interests in the sport — thus the invitation — while Thomson was the editor of the Delaware (Ohio) Gazette.

Neville, outwardly, agreed and told Thomson and other business leaders that he’d turn the invitation down and send the refusal by telegram as there was a 24-hour window for acceptance.

A couple of days later, a bulletin came over the Associated Press wire saying that Delaware had been awarded the Grand Circuit dates.

Thomson immediately called Neville in disbelief and Neville replied, “Oh my heavens, I plumb forgot to send the telegram.”

At that time, the Grand Circuit had somewhat of an emphasis on trotters and the Little Brown Jug was created to be a pacing event.

Neville was the head of the Little Brown Jug Society and Thomson was its secretary/treasurer with the new name for the stake — the Little Brown Jug — coming from a newspaper contest held.

Major Landing Parsons suggested the name honoring one of the great horses in our sport’s grand history reaching back a half century.

The very first year, there were a couple of $2,000 stakes events, unheard of then as the normal fair fare was $400 or $500.

One other note, Neville chose Hank Thomson to be the race secretary, who didn’t know anything about horses, and Neville knew it.

Years later, Thomson asked Neville why he wanted a race secretary like himself with absolutely no experience and Neville, shaking all of his 350 pounds said, “I figured that that way we’d get all the publicity we needed from the Delaware Gazette.

After a couple of $10,000 Jug Previews in 1944 and ’45, the first official Little Brown Jug was contested in 1946 with Ensign Hanover winning for Curly Smart.

The Little Brown Jug has been an iconic racing event ever since.

From Luke in Minneapolis, MN comes a question about some Dan Patch memorabilia.

“My father has left me quite a bit of stuff on Dan Patch and I would like to know what it’s value might be along with some history,” Luke said.

For the history of Dan Patch memorabilia and his career, simply go on the internet and google Dan Patch.

Among the memorabilia are Dan Patch watches, tobacco, sheet music (The Dan Patch Two-Step), and washing machines, among the many.

But here’s some interesting points for you.

Dan Patch’s sire was the champion stallion, Joe Patchen bred to the mare, Zelda, and, upon foaling, was so crippled up in his back legs that some felt it would be better if he just expired after his arrival on April 29, 1896.

But, after a bit of time, he was pulling a cart through the wintry streets of Oxford, IN giving free sleigh rides.

His racing career had not, of course, begun as yet but, by 1902, there were offers on the table to buy Dan Patch and, he finally was sold and was about to embark on a “journey across America” and, eventually, into immortality that continues to this very day.

Back in those days, there was one item used on occasion to gain the most speed out of the standardbred horse, a sulky windshield.

Dan Patch had already begun that journey to immortality — being so fast that horses very rarely entered against him in races and, thus, he was relegated to speed exhibitions and time trials, enabling untold amounts of wealth to his owner, M. W. Savage, in whatever purses were offered, along with attendance gate receipts, and endorsements.

Savage was also the owner of the International Stock Farm.

But Dan Patch still had some competition as the very fast Prince Alert could do a bit of pacing on his own.

At the old Empire City Track, now Yonkers Raceway, on Sept. 23, 1903, Prince Alert, one of harness racing stars of that era, attempted to beat the world record of 1:59 held by Dan Patch.

Prince Alert annihilated the record by two seconds but after the windshield was outlawed, the record was erased from the books, along with many others, as well.

Dan Patch was also a victim of the windshield ban as his historic performance of racing a mile in 1:55 was also erased.

Dan Patch did accomplish a mile in 1:55 1/4 and when the final word came down of that 1:55 mile being disallowed, Savage renamed his farm the International 1:55 Stock Food Farm.

May The Horse Be With You!