Mo Town, Capitaine clash again in Nashua

The promising 2-year-old colts Mo Town and Capitaine will meet in the Grade 2 Nashua Stakes on opening day of the Aqueduct season Friday – and it won’t be for the first time. The pair traded bumps not once, not twice, but three times leaving the gate in their career debuts at Saratoga.

Mo Town went on to be second that day, while Capitaine checked in fifth. Both returned to win their second starts at Belmont Park, and they will be the top choices in the $200,000 Nashua, which will be contested at one mile.

The Nashua, with a field of five, is slotted as race 3.

In the ninth, a second-level optional $62,500 claimer, Summer Revolution, an impressive winner of his first two career starts, will be a short price to get back on track for Rudy Rodriguez after finishing ninth in the Pennsylvania Derby and fourth in the King’s Bishop Stakes.

Also, jockey Rajiv Maragh will ride for the first time Friday since injuring his back and ribs in a Belmont spill on July 10, 2015. Maragh is named on horses in races 6 and 8.

Tony Dutrow, the trainer and part owner of Mo Town, said he is looking forward to the Nashua.

“Going back to Saratoga, he wasn’t 100 percent ready to win that day, but the way he ran led everyone to believe he is a very nice colt,” Dutrow said. “Going forward from that race, he really came to hand. He was just so confident after that race.”

Mo Town won his maiden going a mile in the mud by seven lengths. After stalking early, he took the lead in upper stretch and then left his rivals reeling, striding out through a final quarter-mile in 24.60 seconds.

“Since he broke his maiden, he’s gone even further forward,” Dutrow said.

Capitaine, trained by Mark Hennig, may not have been as flashy in victory as Mo Town, but he ran well. Capitaine pressed the pace between horses to the stretch of the seven-furlong race, which was run in the mud. He then edged clear of the pacesetter to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

“He was a horse that was very forward when we got him in from the farm, training very aggressively,” Hennig said. “He’s gone through several growth spurts, but he’s definitely a horse that is mentally mature and precocious.”

Their winning Beyer Speed Figures? Mo Town, 84; Capitaine, 83. The next highest in the field is a 72.

Nashua, Race 3

Key contenders

Mo Town, by Uncle Mo

Last 2 Beyers: 84-76

◗ Dutrow said he would discuss Mo Town’s next start with his partners after the Nashua but said, “I’m feeling pretty good about shutting him down for the year, giving him November off, and then putting together a 3-year-old plan.”

◗ Manny Franco takes over for jockey John Velazquez, who is at Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup.

Capitaine, by Tapit

Last 2 Beyers: 83-66

◗ He is the first foal out of Hearty Laugh, a sibling to 2006 2-year-old filly champion Dreaming of Anna and the multiple Grade 2 winners Justenuffhumor and Lewis Michael.

Boys From Boston, by Pure Prize

Last 3 Beyers: 72-63-60

◗ Based in Maryland with trainer Jerry Robb, he closed from last in the 12-horse Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial at Presque Isle Downs to be second to the quick Wellabled, who is 3 for 4 and runs in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday.

Han Sense, by Hansen

Last 3 Beyers: 72-62-59

◗ Won his debut in the statebred Iowa Cradle and has since finished fifth in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile and second in the Grade 3 Grey at Woodbine for trainer Mike Maker.