The first Little Brown Jug harness horse race took place in 1946, but planning began as early as 1937 when the Delaware County Fairgrounds were moved from Powell to Delaware. Rollin “Rollie” McNamara, a local Delaware contractor and horse breeder designed and built the harness horse track at the new fairgrounds location.
The 1974 obituary for McNamara, who was also a Delaware County commissioner, called his creation “the fastest half-mile harness horse track in the world.” The track’s banks were mathematically engineered to a precise contour, and specific soils are used to maintain and treat the track.
Part of the team who encouraged the 1937 move to Delaware, was Joe Neville, a local attorney and harness horse owner, who became head of the Delaware Grand
Circuit organization. Neville began bringing premier Grand Circuit races to McNamara’s new track by 1939, attracting some of the best trotters and pacers in the country.
In 1944, Neville announced a new feature race, to take place in 1946 at the Delaware track, for the 1944-born foals. The race would be a 3-year-old pace, “to be the richest harness horse event in the country.” He ran a newspaper contest to name the race, offering a $100 prize to whoever suggested the best name.
U.S. Army Major Lanning Parsons, of Mount Vernon, was the winner out of 4,000 entries from around the country with the name “Little Brown Jug." That was the name of a record-setting pace horse in the 19th century, and many pacers of the day were his descendants.
In 1944 and 1945, preview races were held to build anticipation for the 1946 premiere of “The Jug”. The inaugural race took place on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 1946, and The Columbus Dispatch noted that “Jugger Joe’s” first Little Brown Jug was historic, with about 27,000 people attending. Ensign Hanover, a horse driven by Delaware’s own Wayne “Curly” Smart, took the $17,000 purse.
The Jug was then, and is still now, held every year during the Delaware County Fair, on what is known as “Jug Day”. Today, the total race purse exceeds $500,000, and the event is a staple of the harness racing sport and an anchor of the Pacing Triple Crown.
This year’s Little Brown Jug will take place on Sept. 24 during the 2026 Delaware County Fair, which runs from Sept. 19-26.
Grace Freeman is a Librarian with Columbus Metropolitan Library.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Little Brown Jug harness race in Delaware County first held in 1946
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