A son of Captaintreacherous that is eligible to the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup took part in qualifying action on Thursday (March 28) and erased a 12 and three-quarter-length deficit in a single quarter before opening up daylight at the next call.
The ‘Cup’-eligible in question, the Nicky Comegna-trained Capitano Italiano, performed the move during the second quarter of his qualifier at Woodbine Mohawk Park, which was raced over a ‘good’ track that was assessed a one-second variant.
Pilot Trevor Henry lined up in Post 4 for the qualifier (Race 2) and bided his time as the gate pulled away. The duo was fourth and almost 13 lengths off the engine when the opening quarter was cut in :28.2. It was ‘game over,’ though, once Henry called on his charge.
When asked, Capitano Italiano tipped first over, shot to the lead, and settled onto the front before clicking-off the half-mile pole in :59. The pair maintained their lead on the turn and went on to pass the three-quarters station in 1:27.1.
Capitano Italiano still had pace in the lane, as he came home with a :27.4 final quarter. His margin of victory was four lengths and the win time was 1:55.
Capitano Italiano, pictured victorious at Woodbine Mohawk Park in the fall of 2018
Capitano Italiano, who was a $77,000 Lexington yearling sale purchase, is owned by Bruno Comegna of Burlington, Ont.
Capitano Italiano made seven starts last year as a two-year-old and missed the board just twice. The gelding won two of his starts to go along with a pair of second-place efforts and a lone third. He raced in the low conditioned ranks at Woodbine Mohawk Park and took his mark of 1:53.2 via a gate-to-wire score from Post 8.
The Pepsi North America Cup is Canada’s richest harness race. This year’s edition is scheduled for Saturday, June 15 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The eliminations for the $1 million final will take place a week prior on Saturday, June 8.
To view the list of 82 pacers that were nominated to the 2019 Pepsi North America Cup, which features a purse of $1 million, click here.
To view the harness racing results for the Thursday qualifying session at Mohawk, click the following link: Thursday Results – Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).