Every kid growing up in harness racing dreams of one day winning the Little Brown Jug. One day, not so long ago, this dream become a reality for top driver Chris Christoforou, aboard soon-to-be Hall of Famer Astreos. Experience his day from start to finish as he opens up about his road trip down, the pressure he felt, and that incredible feeling of crossing the wire well ahead of his strongest competition.
Story by Chris Christoforou / As told to Kimberly Fisher
Basically Astreos hadn’t won a major stake race as a three-year-old. He went into the Meadowlands Pace really good, and he finished second... but Gallo Blue Chip was really good that day, and my horse got a good trip, but Gallo Blue Chip was just better. I couldn’t run him down in the stretch.
After the Meadowlands Pace, it was the Cane that was next, at Freehold. And I think Gallo might have skipped it or something. He wasn’t in there. Astreos ended up first over, and we got beat a head at the wire and finished second again.
So there was a lot of pressure just to win a major with this horse. You know, other than Gallo, he was definitely the best horse of the year. Definitely the best colt. It was starting to get to the point where he had to win a major, or his stud career was going to take a pretty good knock.
I was very confident going into the elimination heat... I didn’t think there was anyone who could beat him. I remember Walter Case was driving one of Mark Ford’s other horses and that was really my only other concern, you know... That he maybe might sting me a little leaving just to soften me up in case we hit Gallo in the final. But we got around him quick, and Astreos got to the front and just controlled the race from there. And he came out of it real good.
He was real perky after. I remember feeling pretty confident when I saw him. He just looked really good, his ears were up... He didn’t seem to be affected at all by the first heat. It was like he just went an easy training trip, really. His ears were pricked right up and he was looking around at everything. He looked ready for another race, for sure.
Me and some buddies of mine, we took a Winnebago down to the Jug that year. We had rented one of those RVs and we drove down the day before and parked it right in the track. We plugged it in there and we basically lived there for a couple of days; it was a real fun kind of atmosphere. I think actually in retrospect it was probably the best thing, because when you’re hanging around with your friends it kind of takes your mind off everything else. I was very relaxed and very calm and it was a good time.
When we got up that morning, I remember we went over to the breakfast there, and we were all just hanging out, basically just waiting for the races that afternoon. We played cards in the RV and watched a bit of TV. At one point we went for a walk around and bought some souvenirs for people back home. It was a relaxing morning.
When it came time to get ready, the guys all kind of gave me the big good luck fist pumps and told me to go get ‘em. I remember going to the paddock the first guy I saw was my father, who looked like a nervous wreck, so I talked to him for a little while. We went over strategy together and we basically came to the same conclusion, after the first heat... if Gallo got in front of us, at any point, we were beat, and that was it. That horse, once he got to the front — there was no passing him. So I was pretty determined to get to the front and keep it. It was a do or die kind of situation. That’s how much I respected Gallo. He was such a great horse. If it was the other way around, I didn’t think he could get by me either. The rest of the field, they were nice horses, but I thought it was really between those two, and if I could get him beat, I had the rest beat, I figured.
In the post parade he was really good. I mean, he just felt so good that day. That was the one thing that definitely kept my confidence up the whole time. He was just on his toes and sharp, and I knew he liked the half-mile too. He just gave me that feeling. He felt confident and so did I, and I thought we were going to do really well, so I drove him that way. We were both on our toes that day, that’s for sure.
Going behind the gate, you’re mostly going over the scenarios in your head of what could happen and what your reaction to what’s going to happen is going to be. I had my eye set on the front and that’s where I wanted to be. Luc [Ouellette] went to the front with something... I can’t remember who. And he stretched me out because I was in behind him and he was looking to let Gallo go, not my horse. But I wouldn’t get back into the two-hole. I just kept fighting and fighting and we were going into the second turn before he finally cut me loose. So it was a long way. We went like a quarter in :26 or something on the half there.
It was the kind of thing where Luc’s horse definitely wasn’t going to be able to take that anymore, so he finally grabbed up, and then when he did, here came Gallo on the outside, and me, now, as soon as I crossed over. I hesitated a little just to get the bit back in my horse’s mouth, but I had no intention of letting him go at any time. I kinda let Gallo get up beside me a little bit, before I let my horse go on again. And then it was just the two of them fighting it out the rest of the way. An epic war. Going into the last turn, they were both getting real tired. Profita (the third elimination winner) started to come around on the outside of Gallo, and then I was pretty happy to see George Scooter. He came flying in at the end and won it, which was great because if not it would have been over. Now it was definitely a race off.
It felt like three hours but it was probably an hour until the final heat. They had to give them some time to blow out a little. The first part was really tough, because now you’re waiting for the draw, you know. And I’m waiting to find out whether I’m on the inside of Gallo or the outside. If I’m inside, I think, my chances of winning just went way up, and if I’m on the outside, they went way down! So luckily enough, we drew the right post. He got the four-hole.
He didn’t seem too bad after the second race. He maybe wasn’t looking as sharp as he did after the first heat, but he still looked pretty good. I remember when we went to check him up to go out for the final heat, and he wasn’t even blowing any more. He had stopped breathing heavy. He looked bright, his eyes were bright, and his ears were up again — he looked ready to go. I was very confident then. Unless something crazy happened, I really thought I had a big shot at winning the final heat.
We were going out in the post parade, I remember there was a pile of Canadians that always stand just past the three-quarter pole, going into the last turn. So every time I would jog past them, they would start screaming and banging and hollering. It was kinda fun because it’s kind of like you have your own cheering section there on that corner.
I was really kinda just soaking the moment up at that point. Here you are... you dream of this moment as a kid growing up in this game. You’re in the race-off of the Little Brown Jug, and you know, you’re right where you want to be. Now I just wanted to get it on. I wanted to race. You’re pumped up and ready to go.
I was very confident going into the last heat, even more than I was going into the first heat, and you know, I thought I had the best horse. But it’s Jug day, and everybody’s probably thinking they’re a little better than what they are, so they’re going to be making moves that they normally maybe wouldn’t make.
I can relive that final heat second by second. I remember going behind the gate and keeping an eye on Gallo to see how much he was going to push the issue, but even there I was pretty confident Dan [Dube] knew I didn’t let him go the first time, and I wasn’t letting him go this time.
He came out of there a little bit, he pushed ... but I got to the front real easy. Going into the first turn, he pushed again in front of me, but I opened up enough to let him get into the two-hole. He got in behind me. And I remember as soon as his horse crossed over and I could feel Gallo breathing on my back, I just had the feeling... Right there... That feeling that I won the race. That was it.
I knew Pierce was going to come first up with his horse and he wasn’t going to push the issue, because his horse just wasn’t as good. I remember the quarter flashing up and it wasn’t much, :27 or :28 and change, something like that, and it was a very nice feeling to have Gallo comfortably in behind me. From then on, I was just able to enjoy the ride. We just sat there patiently, didn’t go big fractions, just nice, even fractions, and I remember... I don’t know how to explain it. You’re just going through it like you’ve been through it so many times in a normal race, but now it’s the final of the Jug and you have that feeling like you’re going to win, and you know you’re going to win, and it’s just the greatest feeling there is.
Going down the backside I didn’t want to get caught. I knew we were going to have to sprint the last piece, but I didn’t want to get him started up too early and having a chance of Gallo getting up and out too early. It is the third heat, and who knows what can happen. I was pretty sure he couldn’t get by me anyway, but I didn’t really want to find out in case I was wrong! So I waited. Just going into the last turn I started to let him out a bit, rev him up a little bit. Then right around the head of the lane, I just let him rock from there. And he was gone, that was it. And... We win the Jug.
And it was a very comfortable win for the horse — and after the third heat like that, I went to pull him up going down the backstretch, and he started to grab on again like he wanted to go around again! I was just so in shock... With a horse going three heats and especially going the first two really big miles... He’d never done anything like that before. So for him to be as strong as he was pulling up was very impressive. I went and took him all the way back down to the corner there where all the Canadians are and they were banging and wailing there, and we were waving at everybody. It was just a fantastic, fantastic day.
My dad’s partner on the horse, Irving Storfer, has been his partner for oh, my goodness, over probably 25 years now. And he owned the first horse that I ever won a race with, so it was a real special kind of thing. It was a real special moment for all of us. It wasn’t lost on us how big the moment was. To win the Jug, to win big races when you’re catch driving for people you know and your friends.. It’s great. But when you win for your family, it’s a different thing.
After we went over to the Delaware Inn there and we had a few drinks to celebrate, you know. Nothing too major because we had to get back the next morning. I think we might have made it back for the qualifiers the next morning. I remember we got out of there pretty early. There was a bunch of guys there in the Winnebago, and we took turns driving home. It was just one of those great time that you always remember, you know... Even now when I see those guys that were there with us, if I see them now at the races or whatever, the first thing I think of is that day. You don’t forget it, you know.
You get a few people that ask you over the years, you know...what was it like... All I can say is that this horse will always be my favourite because he showed up on the day that I needed him to show up. That’s how I feel about it.