Showherthemoney Wins the Jugette

A Daughter of A Jugette Winner Adds History to Delaware Jug Events

Oct 5, 2009

Standardbred pacer Showherthemoney straightened out her erratic gait and became the first daughter of a previous champion to win Delaware, Ohio's prestigious Jugette.

Thoroughbred females are not the only girls to score in historic horseracing events and make history this season. Female Standardbreds paced up a two-heat storm in Delaware, Ohio's 38th Annual Jugette contest, with sophomore Showherthemoney, a daughter of 1997 Jugette champion Stienam's Place, bucking the odds against victory to take home pacing's girlish-style hardware in a courageous effort that gained her historic reference. She became the only daughter of a Jugette champ to also win that famed event.

Showherthemoney's historic win was a curtain-call performance off her world record-equaling pace in the $252,700 Nadia Lobell September 14 in Kentucky. She went in 1:49 flat at The Red Mile, winning for driver Luc Quellette by 7-3/4 lengths.

Showherthemoney Shrugs Off Jugette Gait Break

Showherthemoney scored her singular triumph in the Jugette by first shrugging off a rough pre-race warm-up and an early break in her elimination heat, which she won by a head. Showherthemoney smelled paydirt in the final, returning to pace like a seasoned veteran and smartly hitting the wire a length in front of Ginger And Fred, the first elim victor.

Driver Jim Morrill Jr. admitted to post-race interviewers that he was a bit beside himself in post time favorite Showherthemoney's elim heat when the three-year-old pacer couldn't get herself together. The race was the second elimination heat of the $350,000 Jugette, and Showherthemoney's early missteppings could easily have meant a short day of it at Delaware, where most of the season's best male and female pacers gather for annual runnings of the Little Brown Jug (males) and the Jugette (females).

Showherthemoney's Pedigree Beats Odds In Jugette

Showherthemoney, while the winner of just one of eight starts last year, had showed improvement in 2009, winning seven times, and had a Jugette-winning dam in the wings of her pedigree to draw on through her day's adversity. Stienam's Place triumphed in a third-heat race-off twelve years ago over Eyes Of An Angel and Artistic Pleasure at the same venue.

Bettor's choice Showherthemoney's genes didn't speak exciting volumes until the bay filly hit the backstretch in her elim pace. After exploring the entire track (rated as "good" due to substantial rainfall during Delaware County Fair week) with a gait that was anything except steady approaching the starting gate, Showherthemoney inexplicably flipped the switch and gained her spot at the rail.

Morrill Jr. said he had no idea what made the filly break a moment later as five others sped forward from the start. Showherthemoney, her behavior extracting boos from the betting crowd, was left in sixth place in the field of seven before she finally hit her gait in a steady pace. From there, Morrill Jr. was left to decide how to handle the favored filly through the remainder of the heat.

Standardbred Driver Jim Morrill Jr. Wins Jugette

Morrill Jr. told The Horseman and Fair World magazine (Favorite Daughter -- From Boos To Cheers To History For Showherthemoney, by Gen Sullivan, Septemer 30, 2009; page 24) once Showherthemoney was on steady gait in her Jugette elim, "there was no point in not trying to win..." The filly "felt strong, and I thought there was no reason to race to be fourth and get a bad post in the final", Sullivan's article quoted Merrill Jr.

Showherthemoney's steadied gait became a pacing blitzkreig going through the backstretch. In order to qualify for the Jugette's final heat, Showherthemoney had to get up at least to fourth in her elim. The filly made up her mind to other things, like running for the money. Her menacing charge took her to the wire in 1:53.2 breathing in the air exhaled inches away by Kiss Me Kate, begged to the line by familiar Delaware driver John Campbell.

2009 Jugette Final at Delaware Ohio

Connections of Jugette Winner Showherthemoney

Showherthemoney raced her final Jugette heat in 1:53 flat, improving her first elim heat time by two-fifths. Her $170,800 share of the Jugette purse increased her career earnings to $524,881.

Female trainer Tracy Brainard, no stranger to the winner's circle, is Showherthemoney's conditioner. Owners of the history-making Showherthemoney are Bulletproof Enterprises.

The copyright of the article Showherthemoney Wins the Jugette in Harness/Trotting Racing is owned by BarbaraAnne Helberg. Permission to republish Showherthemoney Wins the Jugette in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.