Burgess tells all about Tell All going to the Jug

Trainer Blair Burgess told harnessracing.com Tuesday morning that although he is leaning toward entering North America Cup winner Tell All in the Little Brown Jug, he is still not completely sold on the idea. Burgess said he also plans on shipping Tell All to The Red Mile for Grand Circuit action, and a start at Delaware Sept. 20 would cost him a race in Kentucky.

“Once you go to Delaware, and you go the two heats, you are pretty well giving up Lexington except for the Tattersalls,” said Burgess from his Ontario farm. “I’m planning on it, and my inclination is to go, but I just want to play it by ear a little bit this week. I have other options as I could take him to Lexington and race him three times. He’s eligible to the Simpson and I could race him in the two Grand Circuit races.”

The entry box for the Jug closes Saturday morning, so Burgess only has four more days to make his final decision. Tell All has won eight of his 16 races this year for earnings of more than $1.1 million for the My Desire Stable, and is coming off a 1:50.4 win in a Simcoe division at Mohawk last Saturday night.

“I haven’t actually moved him since he raced, so I’ll see how he is,” said Burgess. “The main thing is, I just don’t know if a half-mile track suits him. I don’t know if he’s handy enough for a half. My place is just a bit bigger than a half, so he’s always on a half there, but the main thing is that he lacks handiness. I think he’s getting better, but just being a greener horse he always raced on a big track, and we’ve never left with him too many times. I think I could be giving up more than I want to give.”

Burgess has two second-place Jug finishes (Amity Chef and Real Desire), but that he is really looking at last year’s experience with Armbro Deuce, who finished second in his elim and then third in the second heat.

“I know (Tell All) will give me 100 percent, but if you are in the wrong starting place or get roughed up a bit….it can happen there so easily,” he said. “I think I took the ideal Delaware horse there last year (Armbro Deuce), went the fastest first quarter ever in the race’s history (:25.2), and got beat by a nose and was very tired in the final because he got so roughed up in the elim. So that just shows you what can happen there. This horse is a better horse than Armbro Deuce, but he’s not as handy as Armbro Deuce.”

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