DELAWARE, OH — Mr Feelgood and driver Mark MacDonald paced into history on Thursday afternoon, capturing the Little Brown Jug in straight heats on a beautiful afternoon in Delaware, OH.

The Grinfromeartoear colt emerged as a favourite to claim the historic Little Brown Jug trophy when he paced to a world record win in the first of three elimination heats. Leaving from Post 6, MacDonald sent Mr Feelgood straight to the front and the colt rocked through fractions of :26.3, :54.3 and 1:21.4 on his way to the 1:50 record.

That mile earned Mr Feelgood the rail for the second heat and 27-year-old MacDonald engineered a perfect trip for the pacer behind Armbro Deuce, who laid down a :26 opening quarter, :54.3 half and 1:22 third quarter.

As the colts paced around the final turn MacDonald maneuvered Mr Feelgood to the outside and the roar from the strong contingent of Canadian fans carried the pair down the stretch to a 1:50.3 victory.

Cactus Creek, the winner of the second elimination heat, finished one and three-quarter lengths behind Mr Feelgood and Armbro Deuce settled for third.

In addition to his world record performance in the first heat, Mr Feelgood also established a new world standard for two heats of 3:40.3.

Jimmy Takter trains Mr Feelgood for Canamerica Capital Corp. of Milton, Diversity Stable of North Bergen, NJ and Lindy Farms of Conn. of Enfield, CT. The colt’s brilliant performance improved his record to eight wins, two seconds and two thirds in 16 sophomore starts.

The 61st winner of the historic Little Brown Jug, Mr Feelgood is the first Canadian-bred to capture one of harness racing’s most coveted trophies. Veteran conditioner Takter and young reinsman MacDonald were also making their first appearance in the Little Brown Jug victory tent.

A regular on the Ontario Sires Stakes circuit, Mr Feelgood posted a Gold Final win in the Aug. 13 event at Windsor Raceway and currently sits fourth in the division point standings. The sophomore colts square off in their last regular season event on Sept. 30 at Mohawk Racetrack and the top 10 point earners will compete at Woodbine Racetrack on Oct. 14 in their $300,000 Super Final.

(With files from Standardbred Canada.)