Reigning U.S. Pacer of the Year Captaintreacherous kicked off his four-year-old campaign in dramatic fashion by overcoming an outside post 10 start and holding off his stablemate, Odds On Equuleus, down the stretch to win the $100,000 Meadowlands Maturity on Friday night at Meadowlands Racetrack.
Captaintreacherous and Odds On Equuleus gave trainer Tony Alagna the 1-2 finish in the four-year-old open stakes race.
With the victory, Captaintreacherous's lifetime bankroll surpassed the $3 million mark for his Captaintreacherous Racing ownership group.
When the wings of the gate folded for the evening's feature event, Word Power (Mike Lachance) grabbed the early lead before the parked out Apprentice Hanover (Mark MacDonald) rolled up to take over command past the :26-second opening quarter. His lead was short-lived though as Captaintreacherous, who settled away mid-pack off the gate with regular reinsman Tim Tetrick in the sulky, brushed by down the backstretch and cleared just past the :54-second half-mile mark. Captaintreacherous raced to three-quarters in 1:22.2 with Sunfire Blue Chip (Yannick Gingras) left first over. The 4-5 favourite drew clear on top entering the stretch and dug in as Dovuto Hanover (Brett Miller) and Odds On Equuleus (Scott Zeron) rallied off cover. Known for producing close, dramatic finishes, Captaintreacherous prevailed by three-quarters of a length in 1:49.2 over the 'good' track. Odds On Equuleus was second with Dovuto Hanover finishing two lengths behind in third.
"It was a 10-horse field and a lot of these horses have been racing. I thought I definitely had the best horse, but anything can happen," commented Tetrick after the race. "Out of the 10-hole I've seen a lot of weird things happen, but it actually worked out pretty good. I got a spot in the first turn to a fast quarter and I got to wait and move him when I wanted to and he charged to the front and the rest was what he had to do.
"I don't know what he does, but he lets them get awful close. As a catch-driver he makes you nervous, but he's done it to me just about every time. But when he sees them, he picks it up and he knows how to get to the wire. I guess he's smarter than I am."
The son of Somebeachsomewhere out of Worldy Treasure banked over $2 million last year during his award-winning sophomore campaign with 13 wins and two seconds in 16 starts. He took his 1:47.1 mark at Lexington's The Red Mile and collected trophies in many of the biggest stakes, including the North America Cup, Max Hempt Memorial, Meadowlands Pace, Cane Pace, Tattersalls Pace, Breeders Crown and American National. He ended the year facing older pacers in the TVG Free-For-All Championship Series, where he finished sixth, beaten two lengths.
"I think he's as good a horse that's out there," said Tetrick, assessing the competition for Captaintreacherous' 2014 campaign. "I know he's a four-year-old against more seasoned horses, but my horse likes to win and it's hard to take that away from him. He loves to race and he's got a big motor."
Captaintreacherous is expected to head to the Ben Franklin eliminations next at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
The complete order of finish in the Meadowlands Maturity was: Captaintreacherous, Odds On Equuleus, Dovuto Hanover, Rockin Amadeus, Twilight Bonfire, Dedis Dragon, Tarpon Hanover, Sunfire Blue Chip, Word Power, and Apprentice Hanover.
Friday's undercard featured the second leg of the Cathedra Dot Com and Flower Child Series. A pair of Cathedra Dot Com divisions went to pacers Harmony Oaks Quike and The Summer Wind while The Flower Child splits were won by trotters J Cs Jake, Star Photo and Sina.