The Meadows: Captain Albano wears the orchids after Delvin Miller Adios

Captain Albano picked up the major Grand Circuit victory that his connections had been searching for in Saturday's $350,000 Delvin Miller Adios for 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers at The Meadows as he took the lead past the quarter and never relinquished it after that in a 1:49 2/5 performance.

Leaving from post four, Captain Albano got away well for Todd McCarthy, but not as quickly as outside starter Huntingforchrome (James MacDonald), who cleared the entire group with little dispute and forced McCarthy and Captain Albano to work until just after the 25 4/5 quarter before they got control. While that was going on up front, Clever Cody (Aaron Merriman) had floated out from post five in search of a seat but was denied, meaning he had to stay parked and first-over.

McCarthy and Captain Albano got a bit of a breather to half in 54 seconds, but Clever Cody continued to make some gains on the outside and got to McCarthy's wheel past that marker. Taking up the other spots in the cover flow were Timeisonmyside (Anthony MacDonald), MGM Grand Messenger Stakes champion Sweet Beach Life and Nuclear (Dexter Dunn), which pinned elimination winner Wish You Well (David Miller) on the inside and caused him to take a bit of a shuffle to three-quarters in 1:21 2/5.

Horses began to fan out off the stalled cover of Clever Cody on the final bend, but all the while Captain Albano was still in charge, and he got separation on the others entering the lane. It looked like for much of the drive Captain Albano was on his way to another easy win like he had in his elimination, but Wish You Well had other ideas as he found room deep in the Lighting Lane and had plenty of pace to go with it. Captain Albano had enough left to keep him at bay, though, with McCarthy driving him out to the win by a neck. Timeisonmyside wound up third, followed by Huntingforchrome and Noblesville (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.).

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"That first half was so salty and that first quarter getting around being off the rail like that, it just showed his heart and how tough the horse really is," said McCarthy after the race. "To hang in there like he did and to finish up, I was so proud of him.

"I could hear (Huntingforchrome) breathing down my neck there and James, I felt like he had a lot of horse under him. I was kind of looking around to see where David got to. I figured he was buried on the rail somewhere. I know that horse, he showed such a good turn of foot last week. He gave me a little bit of a shock there late in the stretch, but as soon as I called on Albano again, he gave me a little bit more and it was enough to get the job done."

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."

McCarthy and victorious trainer Noel Daley had eventual Dan Patch Award winner Pebble Beach in the Adios final two years ago, but he had to settle for third behind Bythemissal and Beach Glass, so in addition to Captain Albano picking up a signature win, there was some matter of redemption for the connections today.

"It's huge. I've been out here and lucky enough to compete in this race a couple of times, but to win it is pretty special," offered McCarthy. "It's a great track to be at and there's a huge crowd here. It's very special."

A Captaintreacherous colt bred by Fred Hertrich III, Captain Albano is trained by Daley for owners Patricia Stable, L.A. Express Stable LLC., Sjoblom Racing Inc. and Michael Dolan. This was Captain Albano's 11th win from 17 career starts, he has now earned $779,195 and he paid $3.00 to win as the 1-2 favorite.

--David Miller quote courtesy of The Meadows--