Western Guy changes barns

Although he won’t be at Delaware Thursday, Sept. 21, with top-ranked sophomore pacer Artistic Fella for the Little Brown Jug, trainer Steve Elliott has received a last-minute addition to his stable that will be entered in the pacing classic. Elliott was scheduled to receive Western Guy at his barn at The Red Mile Thursday, and will send the Western Hanover colt to Delaware next week for the Jug.

Trainer Jake Huff’s wife, Rosalia, has sold her interest in the 3-year-old colt Western Guy to partners Stable 45 (Marcia Gingold and Eugene Kurzrok) and Father and Son Stable (Kurzrok and Scott Kurzrok), which resulted in the barn transfer. Elliott and owner Joseph Alborano had decided earlier to not supplement Meadowlands Pace winner Artistic Fella to the Jug.

“It’s a funny business,” Elliott told harnessracing.com about the change in his Jug destiny. “Nothing like getting them this early, huh? We’ll just train him on the half (at The Red Mile) and see. He’s also got the Bluegrass and Tattersalls (at The Red Mile) and the Breeders Crown.”

Western Guy is coming off a second-place finish behind Sandro Hanover in a Jug Preview division at Scioto Downs Sept. 9. Overall he has two wins in 13 starts this year, with earnings of more than $182,000. Earlier this year he finished second behind Total Truth in the $450,000 Hoosier Cup at Hoosier Park. His lifetime mark of 1:51.1 came in a conditioned pace at the Meadowlands in June.

Western Guy was a $47,000 yearling purchase by his connections. He is out of the mare Art’s Delight, who is a half sister to six $100,000-plus winners, including 1991 Woodrow Wilson Pace winner Sportsmaster p,2, 1:52.1 $755,803 and Catch A Flight p, 1:49.4 ($501,785). Her other half siblings with six-digit winnings are Sign On, Anthony P, Groomsman and Full Of Life.

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