Delaware County Fair: Little Brown Jug battle goes to Lou's Pearlman over Perfect Sting

Lou's Pearlman and Perfect Sting locked up in a duel starting at the half in the $397,080 final of the Little Brown Jug for 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers on Thursday afternoon at the Delaware County Fair, and after battling each other, and also a three-wide Whichwaytothebeach for a ways, it would be Lou's Pearlman who got the decision by a nose in 1:52 4/5.

The field for the final was set after two $132,360 eliminations. Lou's Pearlman and Yannick Gingras won the first one of those races on the front-end in 1:54, and Perfect Sting and David Miller captured the second one in 1:54 1/5 after taking the lead from first-over going to three-quarters. Perfect Sting had the pole position in the final and was the favorite while Lou's Pearlman drew post two.

Perfect Sting stepped out from the rail in the final, and with no one from the outside leaving, he was able to quickly line up the field in post-position order. The opening quarter went on the board in a leisurely 28 1/5 over the 'good' going, but the action heated up as the field neared the 57 2/5 half, as Gingras pulled out of the pocket with Lou's Pearlman, giving cover to Whichwaytothebeach (Andrew McCarthy).

After tipping to the outside, Lou's Pearlman made headway towards Perfect Sting, but coming off the third turn McCarthy decided to fire three-wide with Whichwaytothebeach. The top three horses were matching strides at the 1:25 1/5 three-quarters and on to the final turn. Whichwaytothebeach finally dropped back before they turned for home, but Lou's Pearlman and Perfect Sting continued to trade blows.

Through the stretch drive it looked like Perfect Sting might be able to hold on at the inside, but Lou's Pearlman came with one more late burst and was able to get his nose on the wire first. Whichwaytothebeach, I'll Drink To That (Tim Tetrick), and Mysweetboymax (Aaron Merriman) rounded out the top five finishers.

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"I would have rather been on the front, but it's just the way the cards were dealt. I wasn't going to get locked in," said Gingras. "Ron (Burke) and I talked a little bit about it before the race. I wasn't so keen maybe on pulling the deuce that early, but he seemed pretty confident, so I went with his gut feeling.

"Honestly on the last turn I thought I'd win by two. He's just a hard horse to get by. He's tough, but this little guy here is really tough, too, and he's super-sharp. All credit goes to the Burke Brigade. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year with him.”

Burke, who posted a record 13 wins during the Grand Circuit meet at the Delaware County Fair and took both the Jugette and Little Brown Jug, trains Lou's Pearlman, a Sweet Lou colt. Burke Racing Stable LLC., Weaver Bruscemi LLC., and Elizabeth Novak bred Lou's Pearlman, who is out of the Well Said mare Lucy's Pearl, and co-own him with Howard Taylor. Lou's Pearlman, who has five consecutive victories since Burke put him on Lasix after the Adios final, is now a 12-time winner and pushed his life's earnings well past the half-million dollar mark. He paid $5.20 to win in the final.

"It's been a magical week. It's just incredible. I'm so proud of this horse," said Burke. "It's a homebred. It's our sire, our mare. We get a lot of people telling us we're going to go broke breeding to Sweet Lou, but I don't think it's going to happen. I'm real happy and proud of the guys.

"Lexington," Burke added when asked what was next for Lou's Pearlman. "We've got every race with this colt for the rest of the year."

Mark Weaver and Mike Bruscemi were also all smiles in the winner's circle, with Weaver saying, "We've got the best trainer in the world, the best driver in the world, and the best sire in the world."