Wiggle It Jiggleit won the $677,000 Little Brown Jug on Thursday, beating Lost For Words by a scant nose at the Delaware County Fairgrounds.
Wiggle It Jiggleit and Lost For Words gave the fans one of the most epic battles in the 70-year history of the LBJ.
When the gate’s wings folded, David Miller hustled the first elimination winner Lost For Words out of post position No. 2 and Yannick Gingras gunned My Hero Ron from the six hole, forcing Wiggle It Jiggleit to take a spot third on the rail past the quarter in :27.
As the field came past the grandstand for the first time, driver Montrell Teague made the decision to go after Lost For Words at the half in :54 1/5. With Lost For Words on the inside and Wiggle It Jiggleit on the outside, the duo paced in unison past the ¾ mile pole in 1:21.
With the 46,721 fans on their feet, Wiggle It Jiggleit and Lost For Words paced down the lane nose-to-nose with Wiggle It Jiggleit getting the final call in 1:49 3/5, equaling the stakes mark he set in the second elimination.
The sophomore son of Mr. Wiggles is owned by George Teague Jr. Inc. and trained by Clyde Francis. It was the first LBJ title for all of the connections.
“At the top of the stretch I dropped my head and said ‘the son-of-a-gun is going to lose today’ and he proved me wrong,” noted a jubilant George Teague Jr.
My Hero Ron was another ¾ of a length back in third. Arque Hanover (Corey Callahan) and Artspeak (Scott Zeron) completed the top five.
In his elimination heat, Wiggle It Jiggleit was forced to come first over to challenge the pacesetting Artspeak. Wiggle It Jiggleit took the lead at the three-quarter mile pole, but Artspeak would not go down without a fight and rallied at the rail. Wiggle It Jiggleit finally drew off by 1¼ lengths over Artspeak and My Hero Ron. Arque Hanover finished fourth to advance to the $324,960 final.
In the first $108,320 elimination, David Miller made the winning move with Lost For Words just before the ¼-mile pole and defeated Yankee Bounty and Rockin In Heaven (Trevor Henry) by 1½ in 1:50 2/5.
Yankee Bounty (Yannick Gingras) was sent after the early lead forcing Lost For Words to sit second. Miller wanted the lead and the ability to control the fractions and the field of seven and quickly sent Lost For Words to the front and never looked back.
A fast closing Split The House (Tim Tetrick) was in the final advancing position, but was scratched in the final.
