Harness: Captaintreacherous and Sweet Lou battle for supremacy

This race is coming down to the wire. In fact it’s one that may require a recount or even rest upon the conversion rate on the last day earnings are counted. While divisional honors are still in play and next Saturday’s (November 24) Governor’s Cup and Three Diamonds remain, perhaps the biggest battle of all will be among the fans and followers of first-crop sires (in no particular order) Captaintreacherous and Sweet Lou.

With 99 percent of precincts counted there was roughly a separation of just $155K between the pacing sires with just 2-year-old earnings to be considered. Both stallions with residence in Pennsylvania have set high standards in their first year, with Captaintreacherous already over the $3 million in earnings for his youngsters and Sweet Lou hovering in that range after the victory of Blood Money in last week’s Matron at Dover Downs where sire Sweet Lou also had runner-up Sugar Factory in the contest.

This week’s elimination races will play no real factor as not enough fillies entered the Three Diamonds to require an elimination race. For the record, the final field of 10 going at The Meadowlands for $391,250 will include three by Sweet Lou, including world champion and logical favorite Warrawee Ubeaut, along with Love At First Bite and Alkippe. Just one filly from Captaintreacherous’ impressive first offering dropped in the box for the Three Diamonds. That said, Michelon’s Filly does enter the contest with three consecutive wins including a sweep of the Kindergarten, but realistically she’ll be taking a big step up in class meeting Breeders Crown winner Warrawee Ubeaut.

The most pivotal contest to declare a certain winner between the two stallions is likely to come when the colts face off in the $469,300 Governor’s Cup finale. A total of 13 were entered and the aforementioned Matron one-two punch of Blood Money and Sugar Factory elected to take byes leaving 10 horses vying for the final seven spots. The elimination may work to the advantage of Breeders Crown champion Captain Crunch, who ironically could have a pivotal say in the final count. Captain Crunch is one of two by Captaintreacherous in the Governor’s Cup elimination on Saturday, but he could have a genetic conflict of interest in settling the score, as his dam Sweet Paprika is in fact a three-quarter sister to Sweet Lou.

To me the closeness of this battle in itself is ironic because most experts had already conceded the first season to Captaintreacherous well in advance of the fall stakes season. Certainly as a son of the late Somebeachsomewhere and without question his best, the natural thinking was that he would follow in his father’s footsteps. Needless to say the “Captain” had the look and pedigree of a superstar and the performance as a 2 and 3-year-old to match. While his 4-year-old career, a result of requirements and not likely interests shared by his connections, never quite matched his earlier form, that year wasted set him up to join Sweet Lou in the stallion barns in the same year.

The two met in 2014, but to be honest it was never a fair fight. Sweet Lou himself had suffered from an off 4-year-old campaign in 2013 following two bitter years of battles against arguably the best crop of pacers to come along in the last 20 years. So in 2014 when Sweet Lou was a 5-year-old, he was coming off a below average campaign and running smack into Captaintreacherous during a time he was yet to become competitive against aged horses. Predictably to some in 2014, Sweet Lou took advantage of the extra experience and pummeled Captaintreacherous on four consecutive occasions, including in two stakes races at The Meadowlands – the William Haughton and U.S. Pacing championship. Earlier in the year Sweet Lou scored in the Franklin at Pocono, a race that probably came too soon in the campaign for Captaintreacherous before he drew post eight.

While not a fair fight in 2014, the odds have definitely shifted to Captaintreacherous’ advantage as his pedigree and first year success have led to an increase in his service fee for 2019 and no end in sight to his supporters.

While the vicious first year of racing for this pair of stallions has left many of the combatants resting their wounds and preparing for the sophomore season, both have respectable colts and fillies with legitimate chances to shine over the next two weeks. Certainly Captain Crunch’s performance in the Breeders Crown was as solid as they come and without question his best effort of the season. It’s easy to see why trainer Nancy Johansson would want to race the colt in the elimination this weekend since it could afford her a better post while at the same time give the colt a much needed start prior to the final. Driver Scott Zeron has had to beg off some very nice colts to keep his commitment to Captain Crunch and after a long dry spell it finally paid dividends in the $600,000 Breeders Crown.

Trainer Jimmy Takter kept Blood Money out of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes action after a third-place finish in the opening leg. That kind of wisdom has paid off big-time as Blood Money may be saving his best for last. Our choice as a longshot in the Crown, Blood Money was used hard from post nine and managed a fifth-place finish behind Captain Crunch. Last week he made a bull rush to the front on the backstretch and was dead game in a career best 1:51 1/5 clocking at Dover. The third foal from the dam Blood Diamond, a sister to millionaires Western Terror and If I Can Dream, Blood Money is the dam’s richest 2-year-old to date. Her first two foals, both by Captaintreacherous’ late sire Somebeachsomewhere, had good freshman seasons but nothing compared to this son of Sweet Lou.

Warrawee Ubeaut’s major victory in the Breeders Crown over Captaintreacherous’ Tall Drink Hanover will likely tilt the division in her direction with a Three Diamonds triumph. That is far from a certainty as trainer Gregg McNair has the closely related Crown third and fourth-place finishers Prescient Beauty and Beautyonthebeach entered. The former drew post eight in the Crown final and may have gone the best trip of the night parked the distance and only a half-length removed from Warrawee Ubeaut on the wire. Prescient Beauty is a sister to the dam of Beautyonthebeach, the $838K winner Precocious Beauty.

Watch out for the third-party candidate to spoil everything.