When trainer Tony Alagna saw the way Captain Barbossa returned from his offseason, he was hopeful the four-year-old pacer could enjoy a strong campaign. Captain Barbossa’s early results have given Alagna reason to believe the gelding can fulfill that expectation.

Captain Barbossa has three wins and a second-place finish in five starts this season as he prepares for Saturday’s (June 19) $75,000 last preliminary round of the Graduate Series for four-year-old pacers at The Meadowlands. The series championship is July 10 at The Big M.

In his most recent outing on June 5, Captain Barbossa paced the year’s fastest mile, a 1:47.1 clocking to capture one of two Graduate splits. Captain Barbossa was third until beginning a first-over attack as the field entered the final turn, took the lead near the top of the stretch, and won by three-quarters of a length over Warrawee Vital.

Captain Barbossa is the 3-1 morning line favourite in Saturday’s sole Graduate division and will start from post one with Dexter Dunn in the sulky. The race will go with a field of 12.

“He couldn’t be any better,” Alagna said. “To come first-up like he did, he’s really been good. He liked that trip and he’s got a lot of fight to him this year. I like the way he’s done things, the way he’s been able to grind first-over like he did and then hit another gear. That’s been ultra-impressive against those kinds of horses.”

Captain Barbossa, by Captaintreacherous out of Swinging Beauty, has won seven of 38 career races and hit the board an additional 16 times. He has earned $533,438 and is owned by Robert LeBlanc, David Anderson and Alagnafrankinthegym Stable.

Last year, Captain Barbossa won one of 19 races, with the one being the final of the Little Brown Jug. He had a string of six consecutive top-three finishes in Grand Circuit starts during a nearly two-month period that was snapped by a sixth in the Breeders Crown final on Oct. 31, when he was beaten by three-quarters of a length. He failed to finish better than fourth in his remaining three races.

“It was a long year and it caught up with him,” Alagna said. “I don’t think he got the respect he should have had because he went a lot of hard starts. But he really freshened up over the winter and trained back good.

“We were optimistic the way he trained, and he’s shown it so far. He’s staked to everything. We’re trying to space everything out the best we can because he’s got a lot ahead of him, but so far so good.”

Warrawee Vital is the 7-2 second choice Saturday, and Ruthless Hanover, who has two wins and a second in the series to lead the point standings with 95, is 4-1. Allywag Hanover, who won the other June 5 division of the series, is 5-1 from the trailing post 12.

In addition to the Graduate for pacers, there will be two $50,000 divisions of the Graduate Series for four-year-old trotters. It’s Academic is the 9-5 morning line favourite in the first and Beads is the 8-5 favourite in the second.

The card also includes Tompkins-Geers Stakes for two-year-old pacers and trotters plus the $50,000 final of the Kissin In The Sand Series, where Lyons Sentinel is the 5-2 morning line pick.

Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. (EDT) Saturday at The Meadowlands. The Big M and TrackMaster have teamed to regularly provide free past performances for each race card. Past performances can be found on the Meadowlands website.

(USTA)