Aqueduct: Alysweep takes Cappy

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Alysweep broke sluggishly but finished strongly as he rallied past 3-5 favorite Philadelphia Jim in deep stretch to win Monday's $79,800 Fred "Cappy'' Capossela Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths before a crowd of 5,022.

It was the third consecutive victory for Alysweep and second straight since being claimed by trainer Pat Reynolds and owner Michael Dubb for $75,000 last month. Alysweep, a 3-year-old Florida-bred son of End Sweep, has now earned $73,680 for his new connections.

Jockey Richard Migliore said Alysweep slipped coming out of the gate. Migliore thought it wouldn't be prudent to rush him into what became a three-ply speed duel. Alysweep, instead rating in fourth, raced along the inside down the backstretch behind Work for Boots, Unswept, and Philadelphia Jim.

Migliore took Alysweep off the rail around the turn and had him four wide for the stretch drive. Philadelphia Jim, under jockey Ramon Dominguez, had put away his early challengers, but could not hold off Alysweep, who covered the six furlongs in 1:11.30 and returned $8.90.

"He scrambled for the first four or five strides, and I felt like if I rode him while he was scrambling he was going to go crazy for a quarter-mile and stop,'' Migliore said. "I gathered him up and sat in the pocket. At the three-eighths pole I knew he was the winner. He got by the favorite pretty easily, then he waited a little bit, but he did enough to win.''

Reynolds said he was impressed by Alysweep's ability to rate and plans to point him to the $200,000 Gotham Stakes, a one-mile race on the main track, on March 16.

Dominguez said Philadelphia Jim, a winner of 2 of his 3 previous starts, had no excuse. "He just got outrun,'' Dominguez said.

Unswept finished third, with Work for Boots and Devout rounding out the order of finish.