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| Captain Albano Wins The 79th Little Brown Jug At The Delaware Fair |
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| By
KEN WEINGARTNER
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USTA/Conrad Photo |
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Captain Albano captured the $525,000 Little Brown Jug final
by three lengths over Mirage Hanover in 1:50.1.
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(Courtesy of USTA Media Relations)
Delaware, OH — There were no shaky moments for Captain Albano and driver Todd McCarthy on Thursday as they swept their elimination and the final of the 79th edition of the Little Brown Jug for 3-year-old pacers at the Delaware County Fairgrounds. Not on the racetrack, anyway. The winner’s circle was another story.
“I’ve got the shakes a little bit,” a jubilant McCarthy said when asked to describe the feeling of winning the Little Brown Jug for the first time. “It’s pretty awesome. This race is such a prestigious race, and it brings such a big crowd. It means so much for horses to be able to go two heats like that and win. It really shows what kind of horses they are. I’m just glad this guy got to show what he could do today.”
Captain Albano, who won his $50,000 elimination by 3-1/2 lengths in 1:49.2, came back to capture the $525,000 final less than two hours later by three lengths over Mirage Hanover in 1:50.1 for McCarthy and trainer Noel Daley, who also won the Jug for the first time. Legendary Hanover was third.
It was Captain Albano’s eighth victory in 13 races this year and his 15th in 22 career starts. The triumph pushed his earnings over $1 million, to $1.2 million, for owners Patricia Stable, L.A. Express Stable, Sjoblom Racing, and Michael Dolan.
“It’s just amazing,” Dolan said. “Captain has been a great horse all year, just had a lot of bad luck. He finally got to show what he can do. I don’t have words. The horse is a great horse, I’ve got great partners, we’re like a family. It’s fantastic.”
Starting from post two in the Jug final, Captain Albano and McCarthy settled into second place behind Captain’s Quarters, who won the event’s other elimination and left from post one with driver Jody Jamieson, as they headed to the opening quarter in :27.2. Total Stranger and driver Dan Noble were third and Mirage Hanover with Dexter Dunn was fourth, but parked on the outside, where he remained throughout the mile.
The top four were unchanged as Captain’s Quarters hit the half in :55.2. McCarthy was content to stay in the pocket until heading up the backstretch, when he put Captain Albano in motion. Captain Albano was a half-length off the lead at three-quarters, reached in 1:22.4, then drew away from the field coming out of the last turn.
“I figured (Dexter) probably would want to wait on me and get a second-over trip,” McCarthy said. “I was just hoping that it wasn’t going to be too early that I’d really have to commit. The pace wasn’t overly fast, and I was kind of content to have him sit out there. The rest of it went pretty well. Once he kind of leveled up with Jody and couldn’t see him, he was waiting for me to call on him, and once I did, he swelled right up off the turn and was ready to go.
“I can’t thank the connections and Noel enough for letting me drive this horse. It’s such a great experience.”
Daley won the 2017 Jugette with Caviart Ally and became the seventh trainer this century to complete the Jugette-Jug double.
“It’s on everyone’s bucket list,” Daley said about the Jug, “So, it’s pretty cool to tick it off.”
As for Captain Albano, who received the 2023 Dan Patch Award for best 2-year-old male pacer, Daley said, “It’s great that he got to show himself off today.”
Captain Albano has won six of his last seven starts. His only setback during that span came in his start prior to the Jug when he went off stride in the final turn of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs.
“I have so much faith in this little horse,” McCarthy said after Captain Albano’s elimination victory. “I put that last little incident at Pocono behind us. He’s such a polite little horse and he does everything you ask him.”
Captain Albano, a son of Captaintreacherous-Angelou bred by Frederick Hertrich III, paid $3.40 to win as the 3-5 favorite in the Jug final.
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Captain Albano, Captain’s Quarters win Jug eliminations
Captain Albano and Captain’s Quarters both won their $50,000 eliminations of the Little Brown Jug in gate-to-wire fashion.
In the first elim, Captain Albano and McCarthy left aggressively from post five and grabbed the lead in a :26.3 opening quarter on their way to an unthreatened 1:49.2 win. He was followed by Captain Luke, Mirage Hanover, and Huntingforchrome.
“It’s not where I expected to be,” Daley said. “We talked about it before hand, and we pretty much decided to take him off the gate. Todd said he went to Plan B, and that worked out pretty good. He did that pretty easily. I was surprised with the speed he showed out of the gate. I was holding my breath after making that break the last time, but he put that behind him, which was good.”
Added McCarthy, “We talked about (taking off the gate) and that was kind of the plan, but a couple of them looked pretty relaxed behind the gate, and I thought I’d let him get his nose on it right at the release point and see how he felt. I thought we take a couple steps and see how it looked, and I made my mind up pretty quick that it was the right decision.
“He was coasting around the last turn comfortable. I started to shut him down pretty early to conserve some energy. When you say that to him, he comes right back to you real quick. He finished very nice and relaxed, and I feel like he had a lot left.”
In the second elim, Captain’s Quarters and Jamieson got the early lead from post one in a :26 opening quarter and then held off longshot Total Stranger for the win in 1:51.3. They were followed by Legendary Hanover, the 1-5 favorite, and Sweet Beach Life.
Captain’s Quarters is trained by Herb Holland for owner Rich Stiles. The son of Captaintreacherous-Prescient Beauty was bred by Jim Avritt Sr.
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