Bythemissal wins Little Brown Jug by three-quarters of a length

It took 36,028 races, but Chris Page’s childhood dream came true Thursday at the Delaware County Fair.

Page, a 38-year-old resident of Delaware, was mobbed in the winner’s circle by nearly 200 family and friends after he steered favorite Bythemissal to victory in the $641,550 Little Brown Jug final.

Trained by Ron Burke, Bythemissal won by three-quarters of a length over Fourever Boy and Night Hawk in 1:51.1.

The win was Page’s first in the biggest race at his home track, and it comes 28 years after he witnessed his first Jug in 1994. He swore then that it would someday be him hoisting the trophy.

Thursday was that day.

“I can't even put it into words,” Page said. “It's just a whole bunch of emotions. I've been coming to the Little Brown Jug since I was a little guy and standing on the fence cheering.

“To actually win, it's just the icing on the cake for my career.”

Bythemissal, just the second Ohio-bred pacer to win the Little Brown Jug after BJ Scoot in 1988, gained attention early in the week as his owners put up $45,000 to allow him entry into the race, since he was not originally eligible.

The gelding has now won 10 times in his 12-race career and earned $830,525. He became the third horse in Jug history to win after a supplemental payment, following in the hoofprints of Wiggle It Jiggleit in 2015 and Courtly Choice in 2018.

Bythemissal stamped himself the favorite in the final by virtue of his dominating victory in the first elimination heat. The pacer took the lead right out of the gate and pulled away from the field by four lengths at the finish of the 1:51.3 mile. Night Hawk was second and Atlas Hanover was third.

“He was super,” second trainer Mickey Burke said of the elimination win. “The horse went exactly the way Chris wanted to drive him, and he paced home on his own. Chris said he couldn't have been any better.”

Fourever Boy moved into the final with a far-from-easy win in his elimination heat. The Dexter Dunn-driven pacer was on the outside of the other horses through much of the race before pulling clear in the stretch, winning by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:51.4.

Six Feet Apart was second and Gulf Shores was third.

The top eight finishers moved on to the final heat, and Fourever Boy shot out to an early lead, while Page tucked Bythemissal right behind the leader. When the field rounded the final turn, the race was on.

Bythemissal took the lead midway through the stretch, and neither he nor Page was going to give up an inch.

“You need to be aggressive,” Burke said. “You're not going to win here just watching the race. You got to be in it.”

The win was Page’s fifth of the day and 17th for the week at Delaware, which equals a track record he set in 2019 and shares with local racing legends Brett Miller (2006) and David Miller (1997).

The victory was Burke’s second Jug in two years and puts the trainer in historic company. He is just the third person to train four Jug winners, joining Hall of Famers Billy Haughton (six) and Stanley Dancer (four).

“The thing is, I'm not done,” Burke said. “I’ve got to catch those guys. I don’t like being second. I’ve got a lot more to go. But I'm thrilled to win this one ... because it gave Chris his first, and he's our guy.”

Page was equally excited to win with Burke, whom he called, “the best trainer, not (just of) Standardbreds but even Thoroughbreds.” He recognized that the partnership has lifted them both to lofty heights.

“He's taken me from zero to a hero in my career,” Page said of Burke. “Like in the movie “Willy Wonka,” I punched a golden ticket with Ronnie.”

Ohio State journalism students Megan Husslein, Gabby Khodadad and Katy Popovitch contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Chris Page driving Bythemissal wins the 2022 Little Brown Jug