MacIntosh hopes his Jug cup time is now

When the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup in June, it left analysts pondering how they managed the feat despite having a team that was generally regarded as being inferior to that of the previous year.

After much soul searching, the consensus was, simply, it was their time. There seems to be no better explanation.

Horse trainer Blake MacIntosh gets it and hopes that Thursday at the Little Brown Jug, it will be his time.

While the Jug in Delaware, Ohio, is a classic race, it is not the Holy Grail for harness racing. But it has always resonated strongly in the Canadian side of the industry.

Courtly Choice is the great hope for MacIntosh, who has never won this race. It seems largely unnoticed but he is in the midst of a career year with much more to come.

His stable, split between Meadowbranch Training Centre located behind Flamboro Downs and the Mark Ford Training Center in upstate New York, has won more than $1.6 million. Courtly Choice’s victory in the $700,000 US Meadowlands Pace at the Meadowlands was the biggest of MacIntosh’s career.

At age 40, MacIntosh is at the top of his game, demonstrating many facets that top trainers who came before him showed.

“I don’t think a lot about why other than I’ve put in my time and was open to change. I switched to just young horses, changed breeds and maybe a big plus for me is opening up to the idea of branching out to having more than just Ontario sired horses,” he said earlier this week while inspecting yearlings that will be available for purchase next month in Kentucky.

“I have a dual stable with as many as 20 in New York. The Ontario Sires Stakes is a great program but it can be limiting in other ways here. This way, I’m not worried about classification problems. I’ve got great people at both places and our system is working well.”

MacIntosh has personally allowed his strategy for buying young horses to change as well. Courtly Choice was a $60,000 US purchase and the perfect example.

“I loved him as a yearling two years ago and decided to take a shot, but $60,000 was a huge number for me to spend. After the auctioneer’s hammer fell I was sick to my stomach — literally shaking,” the Cambridge horseman admitted.

“Everyone knew I was not a big spender, but by the time the sale was over, I’d gotten partners on the horse and driving home I felt great. It’s all been good since.”

Last year, Courtly Choice won $54,000 in what might be described as a season he was a bit snake-bitten with some disappointing results. But this year, he has earned $666,000 with the real prospect of a stud career in his future.

“Everyone up here wants to win the Jug, and if it does not work out for us for whatever reason, I will not be happy. People know I get upset at losing,” he said.

“But the horse is fit, ready and just needs a good post position for Thursday’s race. Things happen, but I like my horse going in.”

Make no mistake: Courtly Choice is a very fast horse with a 1:47.1 record. He’s won 9 of 12 starts and is durable. His last win came at Yonkers Raceway, so he can handle the half-mile track racing surface at Delaware. But post position is everything in a race which has a history of the best horse not always winning because of a bad draw. The draw takes place Saturday morning.

“Tuesday I will go a slow mile with him at Delaware in prep for Thursday. After the Jug, he gets four days off and he races at The Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky, the second week of the Grand Circuit. But the Jug is really what I want to win.”

Some good things have to happen between now and Thursday for Blake MacIntosh to get his wish, but, just like the Washington Capitals, it might be his time.