‘The Captain’ is still the king, but he faces another tough challenge in Saturday’s Tattersalls Stakes for three-year-old male pacers at Lexington’s Red Mile.
Fourteen horses entered the Tattersalls and the field was divided into two seven-horse divisions. Captaintreacherous, the defending Pacer of the Year and sport’s top-ranked pacer this season, will compete in the first of the two $215,500 splits – along with the only horse to beat The Captain this year, Sunshine Beach, and Little Brown Jug winner Vegas Vacation.
Captaintreacherous, Vegas Vacation and Sunshine Beach are harness racing’s three richest three-year-old male pacers this season. Vegas Vacation drew Post 1 while Captaintreacherous got Post 5 and Sunshine Beach got Post 7.
“They sure stacked them up,” said Mark Steacy, who trains Sunshine Beach. “It would have been nice to stay away from them until the Breeders Crown, but you can’t do anything about that. Plus we drew the outside post; I guess (driver) John Campbell will just have to work his magic.”
Sunshine Beach handed Captaintreacherous his only loss in 10 races this year when he beat The Captain by a nose in the $500,000 Battle of the Brandywine on August 17 at Pocono Downs. The time of 1:47.4 equalled the world record for three-year-old pacers on a five-eighths-mile track.
“Yeah, but he’s got about six (wins) up on us,” Steacy said with a laugh. “I’d like nothing more than to beat him again, but we want to win every time we race no matter what horses are in there.”
Captaintreacherous won his three previous encounters with Sunshine Beach this year, including in the $1-million Pepsi North America Cup and $635,750 Meadowlands Pace. He also has four wins over Vegas Vacation, including the $360,211 Cane Pace.
“It shapes up like a great race,” Captaintreacherous’ trainer Tony Alagna said. “I don’t look at it like we have to beat this horse or that horse; I just want my horse to go out there and race to his capabilities and he never lets me down.”
Vegas Vacation, whose last three setbacks to Captaintreacherous have come by a combined total of less than a length, comes to the Tattersalls off his straight heats victory in the Little Brown Jug on September 19 at the Delaware County Fair in Ohio.
“I’m still the underdog,” Vegas Vacation’s trainer, Casie Coleman, said. “(Captaintreacherous) is still the king of the castle, but we’re going to try to take him off the throne. We’re going to give it our best shot.”
Captaintreacherous and Sunshine Beach, who both skipped the Little Brown Jug, won Bluegrass Stakes divisions last weekend at the Red Mile. Captaintreacherous, who has earned $1.5-million this season, won by one and a half lengths over Beach Memories in a career-best 1:47.1 with regular driver Tim Tetrick at the lines.
“I was very happy with how he raced last week,” said Alagna, who trains the colt for the ownership group Captaintreacherous Racing. “And he’s trained back really well.”
Sunshine Beach, who has won six of 13 races and $543,135 this season for owners Hudson Standardbred Stable, Conrad Leber and Diane Bertrand, captured his Bluegrass division by a neck over Resistance Futile in 1:48.2. It was his first start since a second-place finish to Vegas Vacation in a division of the Simcoe Stakes on September 7.
“For a horse that hadn’t raced in three weeks, I thought he was very courageous,” Steacy said. “Resistance Futile is a nice horse with a good kick and he was able to fight him off. I hope he’s a little bit better this week.”
Vegas Vacation has won nine of 15 races this year and earned $806,287 for owners West Wins Stable, Adriano Sorella, Anthony Beaton and Phyllis Saunders. He has won three in a row and five of his last six starts.
“(Captaintreacherous) won in (1:) 47.1 last week, so he’s obviously awesome,” Coleman said. “But I think my guy is awesome right now, too.”
The second Tattersalls division includes Adios winner Sunfire Blue Chip, New York Sire Stakes champion Fool Me Once, and North America Cup runner-up Twilight Bonfire.
Saturday’s card also features two divisions of the Glen Garnsey Memorial for three-year-old filly pacers and four divisions of the International Stallion Stakes for two-year-old male pacers.
First-race post time is 1:00 p.m.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.