{"id":438790,"date":"2025-09-20T15:09:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T15:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/438790\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T15:09:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T15:09:39","slug":"hal-mccoy-louprint-makes-imprint-while-winning-the-little-brown-jug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/438790\/","title":{"rendered":"Hal McCoy: Louprint Makes Imprint While Winning The Little Brown Jug"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Louprint easily swept the 80th Little Brown Jug with a winning time of 1:50.1. (Press Pros Feature Photos)<\/strong><\/p>\n

His physical appearance did not belie his consistency of performance.\u00a0 Three-year-old unbeaten pacer Louprint swept through the qualifying heats and the climactic final to capture the 80th Little Brown Jug Championship Thursday in Delaware.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Delaware, OH \u2014<\/strong> If The Little Brown Jug was an equine beauty pageant,<\/strong> Louprint would have the judges mesmerized.<\/p>\n

They would slap a blue ribbon on his sleek black coat with a white stripe on his nose and say, \u201cNow that\u2019s a real black beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Minster Bank proudly sponsors the best area sports coverage on Press Pros Magazine.com.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And indeed Louprint was a thing of beauty late Thursday afternoon at the Delaware County Fairgrounds, but it was the speed that had his mane straight out from his neck that drew attention for nearly 50,000 witnesses.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hall of fame writer Hal McCoy covers the UD Flyers and OHHA racing for Press Pros Magazine.com.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Louprint was an easy, breezy winner of the 80th Little Brown Jug, a $500,000 pot for the 3-year-old pacer.<\/p>\n

Along for the ride was driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. and all he had to do was make certain Louprint did not lose interest because he was on an uncontested stroll. And it was no Beauty and the Beast, because while Louprint is a handsome steed, Wrenn carries movie-star looks.<\/p>\n

First, in order to race for the big money, Louprint had to race in one of two elimination races against six other horses. The top four advance to the finals.<\/p>\n

Wrenn seeking his first Little Brown Jug ring, was in the first elimination race and guided Louprint to the front early and it became the wild pursuit of Black Beauty \u2013 futility as Louprint went wire-to-wire in a swift 1:50 3\/5ths for the mile.<\/p>\n

His biggest competition was expected to be Prince Hal Hanover, driven by Todd McCarthy, winner of last year\u2019s Jug behind Captain Albanao. But the Prince was a pauper in this one and never challenged Louprint.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Logan Services, in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus, proudly sponsors the best area sports coverage on Press Pros Magazine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That made Louprint the big favorite in the final race with his only real competition expected to be from Odds On Outlier, driven by harness racing legend Dexter Dunne.<\/p>\n

Odds on Outlier won the second elimination race in 1:49 3\/5, faster than Louprint in the first elimination, and at the track the word is, \u201cIf you don\u2019t bet on Dunne, you\u2019re done.\u201d And he usually does what Larry The Cable Guy says, \u201cGit \u2018er Dunne.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Odds on Outlier actually ran a faster mile in the qualifying heat, but was no match for Louprint in the Final.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not this day. Louprint came out of the No. 1 hole in the final and Odds and Outlier broke from No. 2. Wrenn beat Dunne to the first turn and it was all over.<\/p>\n

Less than two months ago, there was a fear that Louprint might not race this year and might not race again. He suffered a hernia and surgery to remove a testicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought we could have as good of a horse as he is because we had Sweet Lou,\u201d said principal owner Phil Collura, referring to Louprint\u2019s sire, a big winner. \u201cBut I think he is better than Sweet Lou at three.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Louprint was two, I wasn\u2019t sure,\u201d Collura added. At two, Louprint raced 10 times and won seven, finished second twice and showed once \u2014 10 races, all in the money, and $738,000 won.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, I know, he\u2019s better,\u201d he said. Indeed, better is perfection. Louprint has started nine races (as a three-year-0ld) and won all nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so cool to have a son of Sweet Lou be this good,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of horses, but not like this. He\u2019s special. And not just because the kind of horse he is, but what he overcame.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the surgery a couple of months ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Read about OHHA racing, horses, and drivers each week, exclusively on Press Pros Magazine.com.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe had to have a testicle removed because of a hernia, so we didn\u2019t know what kind of horse we were going to get back,\u201d Collura continued. \u201cAre we going to see the real Louprint? When he qualified, we looked at each other and said, \u2018I think we have him back.\u2019 He has been like a blessing, just awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Same horse, only better. And Collura said after the elimination race he was confident he\u2019d would win the Jug. Then he smiled and said, \u201cThe other cool thing was that I got to name him. Of all the horses we have, I got to name Louprint. So cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ohio governor Mike DeWine made the bold prediction\u2026his faith was in horse #1. Louprint ran from the pole position.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Louprint is obviously a blueprint to winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an amazing horse,\u201d said Wrenn, a statement about five lengths below the obvious. \u201cHe is really special. He is capable of anything I ask of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is slick-gaiting, which is awesome for a small track like this because he can race on any size track,\u201d he added.\u201dHe just knows how to win\u2026like, he\u2019s a great horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrenn said he was down and concerned when he heard about Louprint\u2019s bout with a veterinarian\u2019s scalpel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first heard about it, I was expecting the worst news like, \u2018He\u2019s probably never gonna race again, but hopefully he is going to be OK,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd hopefully he is going to be able to sire, something very important in our business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he is going to be a great sire.\u00a0 The way he\u2019s racing he is going to have some great off-spring. And I knew when I qualified him last month, after the second qualifier, I knew he was back. He might still have some scar tissue, but it doesn\u2019t seem to slow him down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Ohio Harness Horseman\u2019s Association is a sponsor of standardbred racing on Press Pros Magazine.com.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It certainly hasn\u2019t. He cooked the field in 1:50 1\/5 in the final after winning the elimination race.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was really good in the elimination and my biggest competition in the race was Prince Hal Hanover and he didn\u2019t have his \u2018A\u2019 game today, so I was able to get a relatively slow mile to conserve energy for the final. At the top of the stretch I was pretty confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A rising star in harness racing, Chris Page (in front) accomplished his fourth straight \u2018grand slam\u2019\u2026and 15 winners in the first four days of the Delaware County Fair meet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Breaking from the No. 1 hole is the premium spot at the Delaware County Fairgrounds because there is no passing lane which means horses have to go right and it is easy to get boxed in.<\/p>\n

While Wrenn was the Driver of the Day, a driver without a ride for The Little Brown Jug is the star of the week.<\/p>\n

During Thursday\u2019s 20-race card, Mount Vernon\u2019s Chris Page accomplished his fourth straight Grand Slam, four winners a day. And he began the Delaware meet with three winners \u2014 15 winners in the first four days.<\/p>\n

Page won the fourth race, the $116,440 Ohio Breeders Cup Championship behind three-year-old Rick Wink.<\/p>\n

But he had no seat in the Jug. Page, though, was pulling for Wrenn because they are friends.<\/p>\n

Page has won the Jug in the past and said he wanted Wrenn to get his first.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI heard him (yelling) in the post parade and I heard him after I won,\u201d said Wrenn. \u201cIn 2012 I moved to Northfield Park and that\u2019s when Chris started racing there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to know each other and we\u2019ve become friends, even though we want to beat each other as competitors,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re about the same age, we both have families,\u00a0 we connected well, and we both race for (trainer) Ronnie Burke. So we always support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

So while Page won four races on the card, Wrenn won his first Jug and said, \u201cYep, my first one. Feels awesome. Hopefully not my last. I\u2019ve been in a couple of Jugs before, but this is the first as one of the headliners, favored to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that he did.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dave Arbogast family of dealerships proudly sponsors OHHA harness racing on Press Pros Magazine.com.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Louprint easily swept the 80th Little Brown Jug with a winning time of 1:50.1. (Press Pros Feature Photos)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-438790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115237262135835660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}