Captain Pete stamped himself as the likely horse to beat in the $110,000 USD Delaware Standardbred Breeders' Fund (DSBF) championship for three-year-old male pacers with a sparkling 1:52.2 win in the second of three $28,169 second-round preliminary divisions on Thursday (Dec. 12) at Bally's Dover.
Following a 1:57.1 front-end score in the first preliminary round, Captain Pete and driver Allan Davis seized control of the terms in their second-round split after securing the pocket and brushing to clear LL Julio (driven by Cody Poliseno) after a :27.2 first quarter. The Roddys Bags Again-Capitana gelding maintained a stout pace through middle splits of :56.1 and 1:24 before LL Julio reemerged from the pocket to challenge on the far turn. Captain Pete remained steadfast, repelling LL Julio to win by 1-1/2 lengths and miss his lifetime mark by only a fifth of a second. Boris Badenov (Ross Wolfenden) finished third.
Jason Johnson trains Captain Pete, a 10-time winner with $177,595 in career earnings, for Mulligan Stables, Calcutta Stable and Denise Davis. He paid $2.10 to win.
Trainer Crissy Crissman-Bier and driver Tim Tetrick swept the other two DSBF divisions. They won the first split with Vincent Ferriero Jr., Robert Lovenbury and Crissman-Bier's Lovenbury, a Badlands Hanover-Major Millie gelding who vaulted three-wide to the lead off a protracted backstretch duel before evading Midnite Mike by two lengths in 1:56.2; and the third with P T Stable's Beat Cop ($3.60), a Dragon King-Beat The Beat gelding who sustained a first-over push through the far turn to overpower pacesetter Papas Son and evade runner-up Im Still Here by 2-1/2 lengths for a 1:54.1 win.
Captain Pete and Lovenbury, both of whom swept their series preliminaries, will be joined in next Thursday's (Dec. 19) $110,000 USD final by Midnite Mike, Beat Cop, Im Still Here, LL Julio, Shocking Truth and Boris Badenov.
Later on the card, Sweet Angel Boy took advantage of the perfect pocket trip to score in the $38,732 Blue Hen/Open Handicap Pace with driver Tony Morgan.
Mack (Jim Morand) left quickest with Sweet Angel Boy and Itsrockandroll A (Allan Davis) settling in behind through a hot quarter of :26.2.The half was reached in 54.4 before Itsrockandroll A rallied first-up to challenge the leader at three-quarters in 1:23.1 while Sweet Angel Boy stalked the dueling leaders.
Itsrockandroll A took command in the lane before Sweet Angel Boy shook loose up the cones, rallying in :28.4 to score by a half-length in 1:52.1
The six-year-old gelded son of Sweet Lou-Aries Angel is owned and trained by Bobby Glassmeyer and paid $7.20 to win.
Racing continues at Bally’s Dover Monday through Thursday. Post time is 4:30 p.m.
(With files from DSBF / Dover Downs)