The Pacing Triple Crown is a series of three major harness races for three-year-old Standardbred pacers. It consists of the Cane Pace, the Messenger Stakes, and the Little Brown Jug. It was inaugurated in 1956, one year after the Trotting Triple Crown. A horse that wins all three races becomes a Triple Crown winner and is presented with the Pacing Triple Crown trophy.
The Little Brown Jug is the oldest of the three races. It has been held since 1946 at the Delaware County Fair in Delaware, Ohio. The Cane Pace was inaugurated in 1955 as the Cane Futurity and was initially raced at Yonkers Raceway; it has been held at Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey since 2015. The Messenger Stakes was founded in 1956 at Roosevelt Raceway and has been raced at Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York, since 2006.
Adios Butler became the first Pacing Triple Crown winner in 1959. There have been 10 Pacing Triple Crown winners: Adios Butler (1959), Bret Hanover (1965), Romeo Hanover (1966), Rum Customer (1968), Most Happy Fella (1970), Niatross (1980), Ralph Hanover (1983), Western Dreamer (1997), Blissful Hall (1999), and No Pan Intended (2003).
Winners +Pacing Triple Crown winners Horse Year Driver Trainer OwnerAdios Butler 1959 Clint Hodgins Paige H. West Paige H. West and Angelo PellilloBret Hanover 1965Frank Ervin Frank Ervin Richard DowningRomeo Hanover 1966 George Sholty Jerry Silverman Lucky Star Stables and Morton FinderRum Customer 1968 Billy Haughton Billy Haughton Louis and Connie Mancuso and Kennilworth FarmMost Happy Fella 1970 Stanley Dancer Stanley Dancer Egyptian Acres StableNiatross 1980 Clint Galbraith Clint Galbraith Clint Galbraith, Elsie Berger, Niatross StableRalph Hanover 1983 Ron Waples Stewart Firlotte Waples Stable, Inc., Pointsetta Stables, Inc. (Stewart Firlotte), Grants Direct Stable (Richard Dinner and Norman Keyes)Western Dreamer 1997 Michel Lachance William Robinson Matthew J., Patrick J. Jr. and Daniel J. DalyBlissful Hall 1999 Ronald Pierce Benjamin Wallace Daniel PlouffeNo Pan Intended 2003 David Miller Ivan Sugg Peter Pan Stables Inc. (Robert Glazer)
References
External links
The Harness Triple Crown Trophies for both Pacing and Trotting