Captain Albano hangs on in $350,000 Adios

WASHINGTON, PA, July 27, 2024– Captain Albano (Captaintreacherous-Angelou), the 1-2 favorite, controlled the harness racing fractions for Todd McCarthy but needed every bit of his speed and moxie to hold off Wish You Well and David Miller in the Lightning Lane and win Saturday’s $350,000 final of the Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows.

Noel Daley trains the colt, who now boasts a career bankroll of $752,915, for Patricia Stable, L.A. Express Stable, Sjoblom Racing and Michael Dolan.

Last year’s Dan Patch Award winner for freshman males as well as Pennsylvania’s champion, Captain Albano threw down a 1:21.2 three-quarters, thwarting a number of challenges and abortive moves along the way. But when the dust settled as the field turned for home, the outcome came down to the two elimination winners–Captain Albano trying to hold firm, Wish You Well pouring through a suddenly available Lightning Lane. Captain Albano prevailed by a neck in 1:49.2, matching his career best. Timeisonmyside, who reached the final as a 47-1 long shot in his elim, ducked from the gate but nicely weaved his way through traffic to earn show. Noblesville was fourth.

McCarthy indicated he didn’t think his horse was in danger of coming up short.

“I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “He was a little tired, it was a real big mile. But when I heard David coming late, I asked him to go on, and he went that little bit more.’

CAPTAIN ALBANO REPLAY

For his part, Miller said the result might have been different had he found the Lightning Lane sooner.

“I would like to have sat in the two hole, but I’m happy to be second ,” Miller said. “He raced great. He raced great both weeks here.”

It was the first Adios title for both McCarthy and Daley.

To read about the Adioo Volo on the card and watch the replay, click here.

For the undercard recap and replays, click here.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Evan Pattak, for the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association