Washington Court House’s Cameron McCown had an excellent day in the preliminaries, winning twice and finishing second once. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Two of Ohio racing’s best share their story of Little Brown Jug day last week, how it happened for them, and what it means for whatever comes over the remainder of their career.
Dayton, OH — The 40,000 fans that overstuffed the Delaware County Fairgrounds in the stands and surrounding the stands, ostensibly were there to witness the $550,000 Little Brown Jug last week.
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And rightly so. There are few harness events like it and there is thunderous applause as the eight pacers thunder toward the wire.
The spectators were treated to the spectacle of Canadian-born Jody Jamieson steering Redland Rocket Man across the line first in a break-neck 1:49.4.
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That, of course, is the main event.
But there are 16 other races that day plus two elimination races to determine the Jug’s field of eight.
It isn’t quite like the Naked City television series that had eight million stories to tell, but there are several.
One involved driver Cameron McCown, a regular on the Scioto Downs/Dayton Raceway/Miami Valley Raceway circuit.
McCown has never driven a pacer in The Jug, but on this day he won the first two races on the undercard and led the third race down the lane.
He won the first race behind Heerzadiamondstud and captured the second steering Eyes Up. And he had Heerz Ledger in front down the stretch but was overtaken by Willow Dale, driven by Trevor Smith.
Quite the team…wife Jessica McCown trains the horses, and husband Cameron drives them to victory – twice on Little Brown Jug day last week, and beaten at the wire to finish second in a third race.
For McCown, who has never driven a horse in The Jug, winning two races and grabbing a place is about a half-length behind racing in the big event.
“Yeah, it was pretty good,” said McCown of his day at the races.
Pretty good?
Every driver who sits in a sulky would puff up like the Michelin Man after winning two races and snagging a place on Little Brown Jug Day.
For sure, McCown wasn’t judging his day on the day Harness Racing Hall of Famer David Miller had in 2003. Miller won 10 races that day, including the Little Brown Jug behind No Pan Intended.
Miller spent more time in the winner’s circle that day than Dan Patch spent grazing in the meadows after his retirement.
McCown, though, did some beaming about his day.
“Yeah, we got beat right at the wire,” he said about his third race failure, if placing in a race on Jug Day is considered a failure. It isn’t.
“It’s hard enough to win any race at the Jug,” he said “I didn’t have much confidence in that horse (Heerz Ledger), but he put up a good effort.”
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Asked if had driven in The Jug, McCown’s eyes brightened and his voice tightened as he said, “No, I never have. That’s a dream. That’s the dream. It is everybody in Ohio’s dream.
“You have to have those kind of horses and those kind of horses are hard to come by.”
They are hard to come by unless your name is Ron Burke, who trains enough championship horses to provide Hollywood with a herd of stampeding steeds for a movie.
Veteran driver Chris Page (Mount Vernon) had one of the better ‘Jug’ weeks, winning two of the undercard races for trainer Ron Burke. In the Little Brown Jug, itself, he finished fifth driving Watch Em Win. He won the race in 2022 behind Bythemissal.
In the Jug’s final field of eight, there were four horses trained by Burke and he had only three drivers — Tim Tetrick, Ronnie Wrenn Jr. and Yannick Gringas.
Who would be the fourth?
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Anybody who watched closely knew who the fourth would be if Burke needed one.
Chris Page, a 42-year-old superstar on the Scioto/Dayton/Miami Valley circuit and the Ohio Fair events, has a tight working relationship with Burke.
He guided Burke-trained horses in six races on Jug Day and won twice.
He won the fourth race, a $63,000 Ohio Breeders Championship race for 3-year-old fillies. And he won the ninth race, a $20,000 Buckeye Stallion Series for 3-year-old fillies.
If any of the four Burke horses failed to qualify in the two elimination races, Page would have been one of the 40,000 spectators.
All four qualified and Page says he didn’t know if he would drive in The Jug, and if he did which horse he would be behind.
Page is not only experienced, he knows what it takes to win The Jug. He did it in 2022 driving Bythemissal in 1:51.1.
“That’s was great,” said Page, recounting the pre-race meeting with Burke. “Right before the race, Ronnie Burke walked up to me and I was sitting next to Timmy Tetrick.
“He asked Tetrick, ‘Which one you want to drive?’ And he said, ‘Page, you’re driving the other.”
” When you’re coming down the lane and you can hear the people cheering, it is something you’ve dreamt about since you got into the business.” – Chris Page
Yannick Gringas qualified Al Papi and Ronnie Wren Jr. qualified Mellilo, so they stayed aboard those steeds.
That left Frantic Hanover and Watch Em Win. Tetrick qualifed with Frantic Hanover so that left Page behind Watch Em Win.
Nobody was able to Watch Em Win win because he didn’t win, but he finished fifth, ahead of Frantic Hanover and Tetrick, the sixth-place finisher.
“Did he (Tetrick) pick wrong?” Page said with a smile. “No, I’m kidding. But for me it was kinda cool driving that guy.”
Of his trip in the Jug, Page said, “Actually, it ended up good. I ended up second-over, a good spot, I just ran out of horse a little bit. I stayed out of the way and tried to save my horse and pick the owners up some money.”
Burke says all his rides for Burke on the undercard were not auditions because he and Burke have a tight relationship.
In fact, one rail bird said, “If Page has a choice in a race with a chance to drive a fast horse and a slower horse owned by Burke is in the race, out of loyalty he will pick the Burke horse.”
That’s a straight-out-of-a-horse’s mouth comment because Page is just that kind of guy.
Owner/trainer Ron Burke owned half the field for the 2026 Little Brown Jug. (Photo courtesy of Harness Museum)
“Driving Ronnie’s horses translated into a good week and I had 11 or 12 wins during the week,” he said, referring to the week-long racing at the Delaware County Fair.
“We’ve had a great relationship for a number of years,” said Page. “He is a good guy to drive for. I don’t say you’ve made it when you get that account, but he’s real loyal.
“I don’t choose (rides) away from him and he doesn’t choose (rides) away from me very much,” he added. “He’s a cool guy to work for and job security is huge. Over the big picture, Ron Burke is my best option, bar none.”
Although Page didn’t win this year, he knows the feeling from his 2022 ride behind Bythemissal.
“I popped the two-hole and took over on the last turn,” he said. “So cool. Talk about a great day that was. When you’re coming down the lane and you can hear the people cheering, it is something you’ve dreamt about since you got into the business.
“As cool as it was, it was over just that quick (less than two minutes) and then it’s back to work,” he said with a laugh.
That one was easy to recall, even though it is among more than 8,000 wins for Page and nearly $100 million in purse earnings.
And it’s tough work, if you can get.
But when they ask Ron Burke, “Who ya gonna call?,” his answer is “Chris Page, of course.”
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