John (Boomboom) Bell 111 and James (eharness) Guagliardo are the co-leaders at the halfway point in the Little Brown Jug Fantasy Contest.  Bell and Guagliardo, along with the eight others in the Top 10, will receive two stadium seat tickets for this year’s Little Brown Jug. 

The Meadowlands Pace Final on July 19 was the halfway point in the 2008 Jug Fantasy Contest.  The two leaders had 1,333 points each at the half.

The Jug Fantasy Contest is a joint venture between the Delaware, OH County Fair, home of the Little Brown Jug, and www.harnessracing.com, the daily news web site of The Horseman and Fair World magazine.

Guagliardo, from Pittston, PA, is the defending 2007 Jug Fantasy Contest champion  He credits Somebeachsomewhere and his trainer-driver for his large amount of points in this year’s contest.  “I hope they (trainer and owners) change their minds and go to the Jug this year,” said Gualiardo.

Guagliardo has owned harness horses for 10 years and has been a trainer-driver for three years at Rockingham Park.

Guagliardo says his method of picking horses is a secret, “but I can tell you it involves a printer and a lot of paper.”

The co-leader’s user name, eharness. is from a web site he owns and operates.  “People can go to www.eharness.com to buy and sell  horses.”

Guagliardo has participated in all three Fantasy contests.  “It’s something I look forward to, playing the game and watching the races.  It really gets you involved and excited about the Little Brown Jug.  Last year was the first time I attended the Little Brown Jug, I had a great time and look forward to attending again this year.”

Bell, who is from Endicott, NY, says the most important horse he had was Share The Delight.  “He won a Meadowlands Pace Elim which allowed me to go three for three in the elims and earn points with driver John Campbell.”

Bell started out with 15-18 horses based on their two-year-old performances and then added some horses that were racing well at the time.  “I think I had 23 horses on my list and I narrowed them down to 10.  The last couple were difficult.”

Bell has been a fan of harness racing for 20 years and in 2008 he has watched live racing at Tioga Downs, Saratoga Raceway, Vernon Downs,  Monticello and Buffalo Raceway.  And he watches racing on his computer.

  “I attended my first Jug last year with my father.  What a great experience it was, the atmosphere and excitement there was incredible.”

An avid golfer, Bell was a big fan of professional Fred Couples and his nickname was Boombom.  “I started using that as my user name.”

Rounding out the top 10:

3       Bruce Mann                 East Hanover, NJ       pegasus
4       Jeff Crawford              Woodstock, CA          jeffc
5       Bill Lutz                      Clinton, PA               wips.3
6       Michael Notarius          Clarance, NY             first_over
7       Brad Ellerman              St.Louis, MO             peppermintMaddy
8       Brian Edwards             Summerside, CA         eddielee
9       Gary Revington            London, CA              AngelsUprising
10     Dan Corbett                Coraopolis, PA           dcrbett