The highly-anticipated seasonal racing debut of 2013 U.S. Pacer of the Year Captaintreacherous is set for this Friday at The Meadowlands, and he'll be facing a number of familiar foes.
“On Friday, we’re going to unveil the 2014 edition of The Captain and we’re ready,” Myron Bell, who heads the Captaintreacherous Racing ownership group, told Harness Racing Communications. “We’re very excited. We want to race against the best, and they’re going to race against the best, and the chips will fall where they may.”
Captaintreacherous won 13 of 16 races and $2.065 million last season and received his second consecutive U.S. Pacer of the Year Award. His wins included the Breeders Crown, North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace, Max Hempt Memorial, Cane Pace and American-National Stakes.
Trained by Tony Alagna and driven by Tim Tetrick for the Captaintreacherous Racing ownership group, 'The Captain' joined Rocknroll Hanover and Gallo Blue Chip as the only horses to win the Breeders Crown, North America Cup, and Meadowlands Pace in the same season.
“When you put a horse on a certain pedestal, he has to deliver because the public is very demanding. You’ve got to perform,” said Bell. “He won every major stakes race he could have last year. That speaks for itself. We’re very optimistic about this year.”
Captaintreacherous became the first horse to win back-to-back U.S. Pacer of the Year honours since Jennas Beach Boy in 1995-96 and joined Niatross as the only horses to accomplish the feat at ages two and three since the award was first given in 1970. Pacer Bret Hanover was honoured at ages two, three and four with the Horse of the Year Award from 1964-66.
Now four, the multiple-award winning son of Somebeachsomewhere has been entered in the $100,000 Meadowlands Maturity for four-year-olds. He's coming into this race off of three sharp qualifiers, the most recent on Saturday June 7 in a sizzling 1:50.1 at the Big M. In Friday's race he's the only one making his 2014 debut and he'll be doing so from the outside of the gate in Post 10.
“He’s set the bar high; we had nothing to do with it, we’re just along for the ride,” Bell said. “After a series of races this year against the best we’ll determine where he stands in history.”
Nine other four-year-olds will look to make life difficult for 'The Captain', much like he did to them last year. Among that group is the ultra-consistent Apprentice Hanover (PP3, Jody Jamieson) and two horses that have been able to notch rare victories against Captaintreacherous -- Rockin Amadeus (PP4) and Dedis Dragon (PP7).
Here's the field for Friday's $100,000 Meadowlands Maturity (with listed drivers and trainers)
1. Tarpon Hanover - Ron Pierce - Nick Surick
2. Dovuto Hanover - Scott Zeron - Darran Cassar
3. Apprentice Hanover - Jody Jamieson - Benjamin Wallace
4. Rockin Amadeus - Corey Callahan - Jimmy Takter
5. Sunfire Blue Chip - Yannick Gingras - Jimmy Takter
6. Word Power - Jim Morrill Jr. - Larry Remmen
7. Dedis Dragon - Yannick Gingras - Ron Burke
8. Odds On Equuleus - Scott Zeron - Tony Alagna
9. Twilight Bonfire - David Miller - Paul Reid
10. Captaintreacherous - Tim Tetrick - Tony Alagna
The second leg of the TVG Free-For-All Series for trotters was set for Friday but reports indicate that race did not fill with only four horses entering.