Red Mile: Captain Albano rolls again in International Stallion Stakes

The good times kept coming for Captain Albano in the International Stallion Stakes for 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers on Saturday afternoon at The Red Mile as he picked up his fifth consecutive stakes victory. The other tests were won by Newsroom, Booming Economy and Magnifico Hanover.

Racing in the first $72,000 division, Captain Albano and Todd McCarthy left from post seven but let a two-wide Total Stranger (Yannick Gingras) clear past the 27 second opening quarter. McCarthy remained patient with his charge and continued to sit in, but David Miller had another strategy as he sent Cupid Shuffle out from fourth. Cupid Shuffle surged by Total Stranger beyond the 55 2/5 half, but Captain Albano got his march orders from McCarthy on the final bend and moved into second as Cupid Shuffle hit three-quarters in 1:23 1/5.

Captain Albano blew by Cupid Shuffle late on the turn and was in the lead turning for home, and from there it was all Captain Albano as he drew clear to win by three lengths in 1:50 1/5. Courtship (Matt Kakaley) closed well after angling out behind Captain Albano to get second and Cupid Shuffle held third.

"We picked him out at Harrisburg. Thought he may be a little on the small side, but he grew into himself, and he's been getting better every week," said winning co-owner Louis Manfredi of L A Express Stable.

Noel 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 sixth trip to the winner's circle from seven attempts, has now put away $275,680 and returned $2.14 to win as the 1-9 favorite.

Newsroom (D. Miller), who suffered his first career defeat at the hands of Captain Albano a week ago, returned to his winning ways in the second $71,000 tilt. Miller had him on the engine through fractions of 27 4/5, 55 4/5 and 1:23 3/5, and Newsroom dug in through the stretch to fend off pocket-sitter Boston Rocks (Tim Tetrick) on the inside and a first-over Lou Vuitton (Dexter Dunn) on the outside to win by a neck in 1:50 1/5.

"He's pretty tough up (front). So far, no complaints with him," Miller stated post-race. "I was going to try and race him out of a hole, but he got a little rank. He felt back to his old self today, and he fought them off through the stretch."

An Always B Miki colt, Newsroom is trained by Joe Holloway. Newsroom was bred by Mark Mullen and Stephen Dey and was purchased for $30,000 at the 2022 Standardbred Horse Sale by owner Val D'Or Farms. He has earned $228,025 to go with his 7-1-0 record and returned $3.26 to win as the 3-5 favorite.

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Booming Economy (Gingras), making his initial appearance out of the Ron Burke barn, took the third $71,000 grouping in 1:50 3/5. Gingras put him on top after the 27 3/5 opening quarter, and after he reached the half in 55 4/5, Booming Economy opened up a gap on the others heading towards the 1:23 3/5 three-quarters. He needed almost all the advantage he built up as he began to weaken inside the final eighth and Nuclear (Andy Miller), who had gapped in the pocket, began to rally. Nuclear came up a head short, though, as Booming Economy staved him off, with Better Is Nice (Andy McCarthy) up for third.

Bred by owners Chuck Pompey, Howard Taylor and Edwin Gold, Booming Economy is a colt by Captaintreacherous. He is a three-time victor from seven attempts, has pocketed $125,000 and paid $7.70 to win as a 5-2 offering.

Magnifico Hanover (Brian Sears) won his third straight Grand Circuit even between Tioga Downs and The Red Mile in the last $71,000 split. Magnifico Hanover gunned out from post five and got by 1-5 choice Remember The Alamo (Tetrick) near the 26 4/5 quarter and then got away with a second quarter in just 29 4/5 to put the half on the board in 56 3/5. Tetrick tipped Remember The Alamo to the outside on the final turn, but he was rebuffed by Magnifico Hanover to three-quarters in 1:25, and then Magnifico Hanover sprinted a 26 1/5 last quarter to draw off and win by 2 3/4 lengths over Avenger Force (Kakaley) in a 1:51 1/5 mile. Remember The Alamo ended up third.

"He's done everything we've asked so far. He's a very smart horse and knows what he's doing," Sears said. "It was a pretty slow second quarter. There's a pretty good headwind right now, so he kind of made his own way."

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 four wins and a second from five outings, has banked $107,625 and returned $8.12 to win as a 3-1 shot.