Timesareachanging wins 2004 Little Brown Jug

Owner doubles his fun with 1-2 finish at Little Brown Jug

DELAWARE, Ohio (AP) -- When Ron Pierce started looking for another gear in Timesareachanging, trainer Brett Pelling knew he would find it.

Pierce waited until the final turn to take Timesareachanging to the lead and then held off stablemate Western Terror by a half-length to win the Little Brown Jug on Thursday.

``He just keeps pressing. He won't go away,'' Pelling said. ``This horse doesn't quit. He never gets tired down by the wire.''

The son of Cam's Card Shark won two of the three legs of the triple crown for 3-year-old pacers. He finished in a dead heat with Western Terror in the Cane Pace and was second to Metropolitan in the Messenger.

David Brooks and his Perfect World Enterprises of Old Westbury, N.Y., owned the top two finishers, both of which were trained by Pelling. It was the first time the first two Jug finishers had an owner and trainer in common since the legendary Billy Haughton trained Nihilator and Pershing Square to a 1-2 finish for owner Lou Guida of Wall Street Stable in 1985.

Brooks didn't come to Delaware County Fairgrounds to watch his Nick's Fantasy win in 1995.

``I'm here today,'' Brooks said from the winner's circle while wearing a wide grin. ``I'm making up for it.''

Both Pelling and Pierce won two previous Jugs, working together with Shady Character in 1998. Pierce also won behind Blissful Hall in 1999, while Pelling trained 2000 Jug winner Astreos.

Blissed Out, winner of the third elimination, raced to the front in the second heat and maintained that spot past the three-quarters post while a crowd of 52,078 roared in anticipation of a wild finish by the tightly bunched lead group.

Timesareachanging, which lagged at the outset despite starting in the No. 2 post, climbed close to Blissed Out at the close of the back stretch by going wide, then breezed past Blissed Out in the final turn. At the same time, Western Terror moved up on the outside and challenged but was rebuffed by Timesareachanging down the stretch.

``The only time I was concerned was in the first turn when I had to back Mike Lachance (driver of Four Starzzz King) so I could have clear sailing,'' Pierce said.

Western Terror, winner of the first elimination, trailed early before making the late rally.

``Since both horses are owned by the same people, we did our job today,'' driver Brian Sears said. ``Timesareachanging is a great little horse and he earned the win today.''

There were three eight-horse eliminations in the first heat, with the top three finishers from each elimination moving on to the second heat.

The win in the second elimination and the second heat earned Timesareachanging $226,885. Perfect World Enterprises also banked $108,013, giving Brooks a $334,898 payday.

Timesareachanging has finished in the top three in all but one of his 16 starts this year, including nine wins and five seconds. He hasn't finished out of the money in his last 13 races, placing in the top two in his last 10 starts.

Metropolitan, with John Campbell driving, was third. Campbell qualified two horses for the second heat, electing to stay with Metropolitan over Maltese Artist, even though the latter had a better post position.

Before taking his victory lap, Pierce called the victory one of the highlights of his career.

``There is nothing like it,'' he said.