Captain Ahab looks to ease owner Grant’s pain in $890,000 Metro Pace
CAMPBELLVILLE, Ont. — Fortunately for owner Brad Grant, he doesn’t have time to dwell upon Stay Hungry’s disappointment in the Little Brown Jug.
Last year’s top two-year-old male pacer in Canada attempted to win the Jug and complete the Pacing Triple Crown on Thursday in Delaware, Ohio. Stay Hungry captured his elimination race by three-quarters of a length ahead of Dorsoduro Hanover, but ultimately was disqualified for interference with Dorsoduro Hanover in the first turn and placed fourth.
That still qualified Stay Hungry for the Jug final but on the very far outside in the eight-horse field. That prompted Grant to scratch Stay Hungry from the race that was ultimately won by Courtly Choice by a neck ahead of Dorsoduro Hanover, Lather Up and Hayden Hanover in a four-horse photo finish.
“It’s a tough way to lose it,” Grant, a trucking magnate from Milton, Ont., said Friday. “But those are the rules and unfortunately that’s horse racing.