Winning Driver John Campbell Speaks at Jug
About Deweycheatumnhowe And Little Brown Favorites
Sep 24, 2008
The clever moniker, Deweycheatumnhowe, is becoming a household name in trotting this season.
Driver John Campbell spent some time September 18 discussing Jug concerns with the public in an open forum in the trophy Jugette barn prior to the call for the day's first race. And, while the fact that Somebeachsomewhere, pacer supreme, failed to enter the Jug was of great disappointment to the racing public, fans were curious about Dewey's abnormal training routines and the reasoning behind the choices of his trainer-driver, Ray Schnittker.
Dewey's Lack of Public Training
Three-year-old trotting champ Deweycheatumnhowe has clicked his way around the 2008 circuit in high fashion. A son of Muscles Yankee, Dewey trotted to an impressive Hambletonian win in August that he followed up by winning at the World Trotting Derby in DuQuoin, Illinois and at Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville, Ontario, Canada in the $1 million Canadian Trotting Classic during the second weekend of September.
The trotting magician is next scheduled to appear October 4 in the third leg of trotting's Triple Crown series, the Kentucky Futurity at Red Mile in Lexington. Napoleon beat Make It Happen in the Yonkers Trot, the second jewel of the trotting Triple, in July.
Fans asked Campbell if he thought the training regimen employed by Schnittker had made Dewey a better competitor.
Campbell answered quickly, "Yes, no doubt." The sulky driver suggested that what works for one horse may not work for another, though. Campbell indicated Dewey's trainer-driver had learned, apparently, that the trotter responds better to an off-track schedule, away from the public eye.
Unpublic Training for Deweycheatumnhowe
Schnittker trains his trotting star away from crowds and carefully measures the horse's eating habits. Whatever Schnittker has learned about Dewey is his to exploit. Evidently, there is no end to learning where horses are concerned.
In the Canadian Trotting Classic, Dewey started from the No. 10 Post Position. Schittker said after his trotter's CT Classic win that he hadn't had a lot of confidence in starting from the far hole. "...he showed me how good a horse he is," Schnittker was quoted as saying after the race.
Campbell agreed there is always more to learn. But "Schnittker knows is horse," Campbell said.
Share the Delight in The Meadowlands Pace
A fan asked Campbell to talk about his final heat driving Share the Delight in the July Meadowlands Pace and Somebeachsomewhere's first loss. Campbell answered frankly. He said the winner, Art Official, was having his day, getting up on Somebeachsomewhere at the wire after going around the oval in world record time, 1:47, for three-year-olds.
In his elimination heat earlier in the week, Share the Delight won, and Campbell earned his 10,000th win.
Art Official raced 1/5 off the all-ages record in the Meadowlands final. Share the Delight finished third behind Somebeachsomewhere, going "as well as he could," Campbell said. Everyone had mixed feelings about Somebeachsomewhere's upset, Campbell remarked.
Badlands Nitro and Shadow Play
Campbell was asked who he liked in the Jug, just 45 minutes away from the first elimination heat. "Badlands Nitro is strong and Shadow Play is very capable."
Later in the afternoon, Shadow Play triumphed to the title in record time.
