Captain Albano, Better Is Nice, Magnifico Hanover and Cupid Shuffle emerged triumphant from the four Bluegrass Series events for 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers that occurred on Friday afternoon's stakes-laden program at The Red Mile. Thursday's marquee match-up was in the third $87,000 split as undefeated Newsroom (David Miller) took on Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion Captain Albano (Todd McCarthy). Captain Albano forged by longshot leaver Silken Sweet (Andy Miller) for control before the 28 1/5 quarter but Newsroom was hot on Captain Albano's heels and hit the front beyond that station. Newsroom kept the tempo strong through a 55 2/5 half and a 1:22 4/5 three-quarters, but Captain Albano stuck with him, tipped out in the lane, and went by in the final eighth to tally by three-quarters of a length in 1:49 2/5. Remember The Alamo (Tim Tetrick) finished well to grab third. "He's a nice horse, a very casual horse. The only time he got beat, he was coming off of sickness there. Now, he's been lucky enough to have three really nice trips," winning trainer Noel Daley stated. "That's a good horse that wacked it out for us today, and the last two starts in Pennsylvania we had another horse wack them out for us, but he's getting the job done, so that's good." Daley trains Captain Albano, a Captaintreacherous colt bred by Fred Hertrich III, for owners Patricia Stable, L A Express & Sjoblom Inc. and Michael Dolan. A $150,000 Standardbred Horse Sale purchase, Captain Albano made his fifth trip to the winner's circle from six attempts, has now put away $239,680 and returned $5.48 to win as the 8-5 second choice. Better Is Nice (Andy McCarthy), the victor in the finals of the New Jersey Sire Stakes and Kentucky Championship Series, picked up his first Grand Circuit tally by taking the opening $87,000 clash in 1:51. Total Stranger (Yannick Gingras) wrestled the top spot away from Boston Rocks (Tetrick) after the 28 1/5 opening quarter, but Better Is Nice wheeled out of fourth in the backstretch, moved up two-wide, and cleared Total Stranger past the half of 57 seconds. Better Is Nice then carved out three-quarters in 1:24 1/5 as Boston Rocks angled out first-over from the third spot. Down the stretch Boston Rocks advanced to challenge Better Is Nice on the front-end, but Better Is Nice was game when called upon by McCarthy and held sway to score by half a length. Boston Rocks was a solid second and Total Stranger wound up third. "Timmy's colt went a pretty good trip there first-over. He got to him, but my colt did his job. He kind of held him off there," McCarthy remarked. "He's so fun to drive. He's crazy fast. Ideally I'd really rather not put him on front all the time, but if they're going to go slow I've kind of got to get him up there." By Bettor's Wish and out of the Vintage Master mare Thatsoveryverynice, Better Is Nice is trained by Tony Alagna and owned by Alagna Racing LLC., Pryde Stables Inc. and Birnam Wood Farms. Alagna also bred Better Is Nice with Marvin Katz, and the colt now has a record of 6-1-1 from eight starts to go with earnings of $482,100. He was the 2-5 favorite and paid $2.84 to win. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter The second $87,000 flight was a wild affair that saw Courtship (Matt Kakaley), Arson (T. McCarthy), Magnifico Hanover (Brian Sears), Ivy Park (Gingras) and Downbythedanceclub (D. Miller) all involved through opening-half fractions of 27 3/5 and 54 4/5, with Downbythedanceclub surging three-wide in the backstretch to clear Ivy Park past the half. Going to the 1:22 4/5 three-quarters, Ivy Park tipped out from the pocket, giving cover to Magnifico Hanover, and Magnifico Hanover would vault off that into the lead and the win in 1:51. He defeated a shuffled and fast-finishing Courtship by a length, with Number Cruncher (Andy Miller) up for third. "He's been a nice colt from Day One, I guess," offered Sears. "I got the opportunity to drive him at Pocono in his first start, but he was real impressive. I was real happy with him. He showed a lot of ability." Cote Keim owns and trains the victorious Captaintreacherous gelding. Bred by Hanover Shoe Farms and purchased for $50,000 at last year's Standardbred Horse Sale, Magnifico Hanover has three wins and a second from four outings, has banked $72,125 and returned $4.76 to win as the 6-5 favorite. Cupid Shuffle (D. Miller) raced in fifth through opening-half stations of 27 1/5 and 55 1/5 set by Swaggy Cal (Dexter Dunn) and Sweet Beach Life (Matt Kakaley) in the last $87,000 section, then began a first-over move that carried him into a joint third as Swaggy Cal hit three-quarters in 1:22 4/5. Cupid Shuffle sustained his bid around the remainder of the bend, forged his way by Swaggy Cal in the upper part of the stretch, and then went on to win by a length and a half in 1:50 4/5. Steely Knife (Scott Zeron) closed well from third-over for second and Rock The Captain N (T. McCarthy) finished third. Another winner bred by Fred Hertrich III, Cupid Shuffle is a Sweet Lou gelding trained by Brett Pelling for owners Daniel Lagace, Edwin Buhler, Robert Van Ostrand and Ray Lagace. A $60,000 acquisition at the 2022 Standardbred Horse Sale, Cupid Shuffle is a two-time victor in eight tries, has socked away $66,616 and paid $7.54 to win as a 5-2 shot.