Color’s A Virgin storms to Jugette victory

by Ken Weingartner

Delaware, OH — Bruce Trogdon has long admired the horses competing in the big events at the Delaware County Fair from his seat in the grandstand.

On Wednesday, he got to admire one of his own from the winner’s circle.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Color’s A Virgin won the Jugette final in a time of 1:52.4.

Color’s A Virgin, bred and owned by Trogdon’s Emerald Highlands Farm in Mount Vernon, Ohio, won the $298,100 Jugette for 3-year-old female pacers by 1-1/4 lengths over Beautiful Lady in 1:52.4 at Delaware.

It was the first Jugette win for the connections, including trainer Brian Brown and driver Trace Tetrick.

“I’ve been coming here for 39 years and I love to watch the Jug and the Jugette,” Trogdon said. “I just love to watch the beautiful horses. I never dreamed that someday I would raise and keep and have the winner of the Jugette. It is so special to me. Nothing could compare to this. It’s super special to me.”

Color’s A Virgin was a two-time winner on the day, first capturing her $39,746 Jugette elimination in 1:51.3. She raced on the outside for more than half the mile and wore down favorite Lady Shadow before pulling away for a 2-1/2 length victory over Southwind Silence.

In the $178,862 final, Color’s A Virgin got away slowly and was in fifth place as Allstar Rating led the field to the first quarter in :27. By the halfway point, Tetrick had worked the filly into contention, sitting fourth on the outside behind the cover of second-place Beautiful Lady.

Beautiful Lady, who also was an elimination winner, and Color’s A Virgin were 1-2 at three-quarters, reached in 1:24.2. Beautiful Lady maintained the lead by a head entering the stretch, but Color’s A Virgin would not be denied and went by to victory.

Beach Story finished third and Gallie Bythe Beach, who won her elimination, was fourth.

“She got a little crooked (at the start), that’s why she was off a little bit, but after that I just played a little catch-up, came second over, and it worked out great,” Tetrick said.

“I’ve always liked this mare and took care of her,” added Tetrick. “She’s always done what I’ve asked of her and this is my biggest win of my career. It’s one I put on the wall.”

“When she broke out of the gate like that with her head turned I was like ‘oh no,'” said trainer Brian Brown. “I didn’t expect her to go to the front but fifth off the gate? I was worried but Trace got her right back on. It was no problem her being on the outside as she is used to that racing in Indiana and always being flushed out.

“This is beyond a doubt a win I cannot describe or explain. She is just such a tough filly and after this she goes back to Indiana and then she is eligible to the Nadia Lobell so she will get to try the big girls. We always thought she had that kind of ability but you never know until you put them in the right spot.

“She is not eligible to the Breeders Crown and we will not supplement.”

Color’s A Virgin is a daughter of Always A Virgin out of the mare Full Color. She was winless in her first three starts this year, but has since won eight of nine races with Tetrick in the sulky.

For her career, Color’s A Virgin has won 13 of 21 races, predominately on the Indiana Sire Stakes circuit, where she has claimed multiple finals. She has banked $466,457 lifetime and $254,757 this year.

“I love horses and it was my hobby because I was a newspaper man for 25 years,” said Trogdon. “When she broke with her head all crooked I was more than nervous. She only broke once in her life before, when she had the rail as well in an Indiana Sire Stake and when she took steps, I thought it was going to happen again.

“But she is so used to what looks like tough trips and I know how well Trace knows her. So when I saw her on the outside the whole time I knew it wasn’t going to bother her. We’ve always thought she was a talented filly and I’ve already bred the mare back to Always A Virgin.”

Color’s A Virgin, Gallie Bythe Beach, Beautiful Lady win Jugette elims

A trio of $39,746 eliminations were on tap earlier in the day. The top three in each elimination advanced to the final.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Color’s A Virgin’s victory in 1:51.3 was the fastest of three Jugette elims on Wednesday afternoon at the Delaware County Fair.

Color’s A Virgin raced on the outside for more than half the mile and wore down favorite Lady Shadow in the stretch to win the first elimination of the Jugette in 1:51.3.

Southwind Silence got up for second place and Also Encouraging was third to also advance to the final.

Trace Tetrick drove Color’s A Virgin for trainer Brian Brown and owner Emerald Highlands Farm. It was her seventh win in 11 starts this season. She paid $8.60 to win.

Beach Body was scratched, leaving a field of six horses.

Lady Shadow got the lead with an opening quarter of :26.3 and stayed on top through fractions of :55.2 and 1:23.2 until the field reached the final turn. Color’s A Virgin, a daughter of Always A Virgin-Full Color, was in second place at that point and continued her first-over grind until she was in front.

“This filly has always been big and strong; when we brought her in to break her she looked like a stud colt,” said trainer Brian Brown. “It’s (the Jugette) only second to winning the Jug; words can’t even describe how this feels.”

Gallie Bythe Beach stormed through the stretch to rally from fifth place at the top of the lane and nipped Allstar Rating at the wire to win the second of three eliminations for the Jugette. Gallie Bythe Beach was timed in 1:52.2.

Allstar Rating and third-place finisher Beach Gal also advanced to the Jugette final.

Allstar Rating grabbed the lead at the start and guided the field through fractions of :26.3, :54.3 and 1:22.4. She rebuffed a first-over challenge from Beach Gal and appeared to be heading for victory, but Gallie Bythe Beach and driver John Campbell never relented in their charge.

Gallie Bythe Beach, a daughter of Somebeachsomewhere-Galleria, owned by Fashion Farms and trained by Jim Campbell, picked up her first win of the season in 12 tries. She won six of 10 races last season and never finished worse than third.

“She was a very nice filly last year that didn’t progress as nicely as we would have liked but we were really encouraged by her last race at Chester,” said driver John Campbell. “Like Jim and I were talking about, there is a lot of money still on the table and she might be getting sharp at the right time of year when some of the others might not be on the improve.”

Beautiful Lady and driver Matt Kakaley cruised to a win by open lengths in 1:52.2 in the third of three eliminations for the Jugette. Beach Story finished second and Candy’s A Virgin was third to also advance to the Jugette final.

Sandbetweenurtoes worked through a :26.2 opening quarter-mile to take the top spot from Beautiful Lady and remained in front until three-quarters, when Gettingreadytoroll (Yannick Gingras) came first over and stuck her head in front. No sooner there, though, Gettingreadytoroll went off stride and Sandbetweenurtoes reclaimed the lead.

It was short lived, however, as Beautiful Lady and driver Matt Kakaley burst from the pocket and pulled away from the field around the final turn and through the stretch.

Beautiful Lady, a daughter of Rocknroll Hanover-Love The Game, is trained by Ron Burke and owned by Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, and RTC Stables. Sent off at 14-1, she picked up her fourth win in 13 starts this season and paid $31.40 to win.

“She felt absolutely so good out there,” said driver Matt Kakaley. “She was a little strong and kind of aggressive when Yannick made his move but I was in a great spot, so when he made the break, which was the difference in the race, I was able to slip right out and that was it.”

— Kimberly French also contributed to this report