Training session to determine Jug start

Not being eligible to the Cane Pace, which has eliminations at Freehold Raceway on Saturday, Aug. 28,  the brand-new Battle of the Brandywine champion Rock N Roll Heaven will get next weekend off. But maybe not total R&R, according to trainer Bruce Saunders.

Saunders told harnessracing.com Monday morning that Rock N Roll Heaven’s next pari-mutuel start will come Sept. 11 in the Simcoe at Mohawk, and that he plans on later entering the colt in the Breeders Crown at Pocono, the Grand Circuit events at The Red Mile, and a pair of stakes at Dover Downs. But before he commits 100 percent to racing Rock N Roll Heaven in next month’s Little Brown Jug, Saunders said he plans on a training session at Yonkers Raceway sometime in the next two weeks to be sure the colt can get around a half-mile track such as the one at the Delaware, Ohio fairgrounds.

“We have plenty of time to make the decision. Either this Friday or next Friday we’ll go over to Yonkers, and after the qualifiers when they have the starting gate out there after to school, I’ll probably have Danny go a decent mile off the gate," said Saunders, who added he doesn't believe Rock N Roll Heaven will have any problems with a half-mile track. "I’ll watch him go and get Danny’s opinion. That will serve as some information in making the decision.”

This year’s Jug falls on Thursday, Sept. 23, with the double-heat race coming just nine days before the Breeders Crown eliminations at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs on Oct. 1.

“If anybody can do it, my guy can because he’s a high-energy horse and really doesn’t get tired,” said Saunders. “The Jug is the biggest spectacle in harness racing, there’s no question about that. There are 50,000 rabid fans out there partying and watching great racing that day. I’d love to be  participant in it, but it’s important to do what’s best for the horse.”

Saunders said he believes Rock N Roll Heaven, who won the $500,000 Battle of the Brandywine after a pair of narrow second-place finishes in the $1 million Meadowlands Pace and a Holmes division, rightfully belongs at the top of the division standings

“Throughout the year, the thought started out as Sportswriter, All Speed Hanover, (One More Laugh) and my colt,” said Saunders. “Attrition caught up to Sportswriter and All Speed Hanover, so that leaves One More Laugh and Rock N Roll Heaven. And Rockin Image has jumped up and gone some big trips on occasion. But we’ve moved back to the head of the class, where we’ve pretty much been the whole time.

“There’s no money in winning the (divisional) title, but it is something that you can boast about especially when they get bred and it looks as though he’ll be retired at the end of this year.”

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