As the 2013 racing season came to an end, the most anticipated race of the year featured the sport’s most recent U.S. Pacer of the Year Award winners -- Foiled Again and Captaintreacherous.
On Saturday, the two stars will renew their acquaintance in the first of two eliminations for the $500,000 Ben Franklin Pace for older pacers at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
Foiled Again, a 10-year-old who is the richest harness racing horse in North American history, won their first encounter in November’s $512,000 TVG Free For All Series championship. Captaintreacherous, who was trying to become the first three-year-old to defeat older stakes rivals since Niatross in 1980, finished sixth.
Now at the age of four, Captaintreacherous will face older rivals on a regular basis. And it begins Saturday.
“I felt good with the way he ended up last year,” trainer Tony Alagna said about Captaintreacherous. “He finished sixth, but he was only beaten two lengths by the best aged horses out there. That showed a lot, with as tough of a three-year-old campaign that he had. I think he’s definitely going to be a force in the open division.”
Captaintreacherous, who was named the Dan Patch Award-winning Pacer of the Year in 2012 and 2013, has won 22 of 27 career races and earned $3.02 million for the Captaintreacherous Racing ownership group.
He won his 2014 debut last Friday at the Meadowlands, beating a field of four-year-olds in the $100,000 Meadowlands Maturity, which pushed him past Presidential Ball to No. 13 in purses among all pacers in history.
Captaintreacherous started the Maturity from post 10 and took the lead on the backstretch on his way to a 1:49.2 triumph.
“I was very happy with his first start,” Alagna said. “There’s always concern, first start coming back, drawing the 10 hole against horses that already had some starts under their belts, but off three qualifiers -- especially the last one -- we thought he was ready to go. He raced very well.”
Captaintreacherous and driver Tim Tetrick used a :27 move during the Maturity’s second quarter to take the lead. They settled into a :28.2 third quarter before coming home in :27.
“I liked the way he moved up the backside,” Alagna said. “He really went to the backside strong, which is good because he’s going to have to learn a little bit more maneuverability this year against those types of horses. Like always, he came right back to Timmy and was very quiet in the third quarter and when he called on him at the head of the lane he sprinted off.
“He was doing his best pacing at the wire, so I was very happy about that.”
Captaintreacherous won five of six starts at Pocono Downs last year. He won the Breeders Crown in October, two months after suffering his only setback at the northeast Pennsylvania oval, losing the Battle of the Brandywine by a nose to Sunshine Beach in a world-record 1:47.4.
“We raced him at Pocono as a three-year-old and he was very good over the track,” Alagna said. “Of course, it’s a different group of horses, but we think he’s ready to go.”
Foiled Again has won 80 of 207 races and earned $6.25 million. He has won four of nine races this year and only once finished worse than third. He comes into the Franklin elim off a second-place finish in last weekend’s $100,000 Mohawk Gold Cup Invitational.
The top four finishers from each of the two Franklin eliminations advance to the final on June 28. Also advancing will be the fastest fifth-place finisher.
Saturday’s two Ben Franklin Pace eliminations are part of a card that also includes two eliminations for the $500,000 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial Stakes for three-year-old trotters, three eliminations for the $500,000 Max C. Hempt Memorial for three-year-old pacers, and three eliminations for the $300,000 James M. Lynch Memorial for three-year-old female pacers.
A look at the eliminations for the four races appears below.
FRANKLIN ELIMINATIONS
The luck of the draw has put Captaintreacherous, the richest harness horse of 2013 and U.S. Pacer of the Year, just inside Foiled Again, the richest harness horse of all-time with earnings of $6,251,068, in the same Franklin elimination, race 10.
Foiled Again has several advantages he can tick off. He was four-for-four at Pocono Downs last year, winning the Franklin elimination and final and the Breeders Crown elimination and final. He defeated his younger rival in ‘The Race of 2013,’ the TVG Series Final at the Meadowlands Racetrack. And, of course, his accumulated bankroll, which at this point shows no signs of stopping its growing for the 10-year-old gelding. Foiled Again also has many early-season races under his belt, with four wins and over $220,000 in his column already. He will start from Post 5 on Saturday for driver Yannick Gingras, trainer Ron Burke (who has 14 horses in the four sets of eliminations), and Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, and JJK Stables.
But Captaintreacherous need not apologize for anything on his racing card. Trained by Tony Alagna for Captaintreacherous Racing, the four-year-old started his 2014 campaign in fine style this past Saturday at the Meadowlands, winning the Meadowlands Maturity despite the outside Post 10. He is the defending champ in the sport among both pacers and money-winners, and he has a fine record over the Pocono track, having won his Hempt elim and final and his Breeders Crown elim and final over the fast red surface last year. Tim Tetrick has the mount as ‘The Captain’ will start from Post 4 in the field of seven.
The two Franklin elims contain 14 horses with combined earnings of $20,752,328 (and an average mark of 1:48.2). Just behind the two Race 10 favourites in money is the likely choice for Race 12 favouritism, Sweet Lou. Another Burke trainee co-owned by Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi, here with Lawrence Karr and Phillip Collura, Sweet Lou was his generation’s two-year-old champion, and was among its best at three and four. Now five, Sweet Lou has found crushing form in recent starts, running off three straight against free-for-all horses, his fastest in 1:48, last quarter in :26, from Post 10 at the Meadowlands.
BEAL ELIMINATIONS
Father Patrick – undefeated and untested in three starts at three and a horse who Hall of Fame trainer Jimmy Takter says “has the potential to be among the all-time greats of the modern era” – will likely be a heavy favourite in his Beal elimination (Race 5). Owned by the Father Patrick Stable and named after a New Jersey Catholic priest, Father Patrick has won three straight Pennsylvania Sire Stakes to start his march towards possibly history, including a 19 and three-quarter-length smashing triumph two weeks ago. He will start from the rail Saturday for driver Yannick Gingras.
Nuncio, the only horse ever to defeat Father Patrick, is likely to be highly favoured in his Beal elim (Race 3). Owned by Stall TZ Inc, Nuncio switched barns over the winter to that of Jimmy Takter, with fellow Hall of Fame driver John Campbell keeping the drive from last season. Nuncio, who also opened his yearly card with three straight PASS wins, will start from Post 2 in his elim for Campbell.
The ‘unknown factor,’ probably rated No. 4 in the Hambletonian class at this point, is Datsyuk, who was unraced at two but has a 4-3-1-0 scorecard this year for trainer/driver Charlie Norris, who also co-owns with Leonard Buckner. Datsyuk, named after an NHL player, lost to Father Patrick at Pocono last Saturday by just a neck, and will try to beat his stablemate this week from Post 3 for Norris.
HEMPT ELIMINATIONS
The glamour division, the three-year-old colt pacers, assemble 22 strong in three eliminations this Saturday, searching for leadership in a group where the top horse seems to switch about every week.
In the seventh race first elim, Always B Miki will be looking to rebound from a break in his North America Cup elim two weeks ago, from which he could recover for only fifth and thus did not qualify for the final. When on his best behaviour, the Joe Holloway trainee has shown terrific speed, including wins in the Somebeachsomewhere and Historic stakes. Corey Callahan has the drive behind Always B Miki as they start from post two for owners Bluewood Stable, Val D’Or Farms, and Roll The Dice Stable.
In the ninth race elimination, the crowd may have a hard time separating Western Vintage (post six, driver Yannick Gingras) and Doo Wop Hanover (post seven, John Campbell), who have traded New Jersey Sire Stakes victories this year, with Doo Wop taking the NJSS championship on May 31. All Bets Off (post two, driver Matt Kakaley) will try to extend the three-race win streak he has put together in New York state, including in the Rooney final, as he comes back to Pennsylvania.
In the eleventh race elim, McWicked may be bad news for his opponents as he starts in the middle of the seven-horse field for driver David Miller, trainer Casie Coleman, and the S S G Stables. McWicked took his mark of 1:48.3 in winning his North America Cup elimination, and then was fourth, beaten only three lengths, in the final – only his second off-the-board finish in 15 career starts.
LYNCH ELIMINATIONS
In the fourth race Lynch elim, several horses have fine credentials. Act Now (post eight, driver Brian Sears) and Sayitall BB (post seven, Yannick Gingras) showed their quality by finishing 1-2 in their recent New Jersey sires final, but they may have a hard time from their outer draws and with opposition such as Gallie Bythe Beach (post five, John Campbell), who in her last local start set a 1:50.3 world record in her Breeders Crown elim, only to disappointingly come out of the race less than perfect and scratched from the final.
In the race six elim, trainer Ron Burke, who we mentioned had 14 entrants in the stakes elims, has five in the Lynch and two in this event, starting from opposite sides of the starting gate. Allstar Rating (post one, Yannick Gingras) brings speed and consistency (in the money 10 of 11 times lifetime), while having the opposite luck at the draw was Southwind Silence (driver Matt Kakaley), the 2013 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion and third in the Breeders Crown final.
Uffizi Hanover, after a very slow start to her 2014 campaign, has now won two straight, including the Fan Hanover final last week, and is the horse to beat in the eighth race elim, starting from post seven for driver David Miller. Trained by Jimmy Takter (yes, he does pacers, too) for the Ontario triumvirate of Libfeld, Katz, and Goldband, Uffizi Hanover has fond memories of Pocono, as she won the Breeders Crown here last year – only the second victory at that point of her career.
(with files from HRC/PHHA/Pocono)