Woodbine Mohawk Park: Captain Ahab, Stag Party marvelous in Metro eliminations

The public choices didn't disappoint in the pair of C$40,000 Metro eliminations for 2-year-old male pacers on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park, with Captain Ahab improving his record to seven-for-seven and Stag Party bouncing back from a second-place effort last week to win.

Captain Ahab (Andrew McCarthy) raced in the second elimination, and after settling in fourth to the 26 3/5 opening quarter, he came with a brush that carried him into control passing the 55-second half-mile marker. Lyons Night Hawk (Tim Tetrick) got side-by-side with Captain Ahab at the 1:22 4/5 three-quarters, but Captain Ahab put him away turning for home and then also held off the bid from second-over De Los Cielos Deo (Yannick Gingras) to win by a length in 1:50 4/5. Goldberg (Montrell Teague), Lyons Night Hawk, and Better Up (David Miller) also qualified for the final.

"I got away where I wanted to. I didn't want to get away too far back," said McCarthy. "I didn't really care; I just wanted to drive the speed of the race, whether I stayed in or not. I was getting flushed early, so I figured I'd go ahead and put him on the front. He was fine about it. He does what he has to up there.

"I kicked the earplugs out tonight and made him pace in the stretch. I've got so much respect for De Los Cielos Deo. He's a very, very nice colt, so I wanted to make sure he couldn't get too close to me, that's for sure."

Tony Alagna trains Captain Ahab, a Captaintreacherous colt, for co-owner/breeder Brittany Farms and co-owners Brad Grant, Vincent Barbera, and Captain Ahab Racing. He has banked C$137,616 to go with his undefeated record. A $100,000 buy at the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, Captain Ahab is out of the Western Ideal mare Acquavella (1:53 3/5, $38,247), a full sister to Artspeak (1:47 4/5, C$1,770,980). The 1-5 favorite, Captain Ahab paid $2.50 to win.

Back in the first elimination, Cruise Captain (Sylvain Filion) led to the 27 1/5 opening quarter, but Shake That House (Gingras), and Semi Tough (Matt Kakaley) both overtook him before the 55 4/5 half. Stag Party (D. Miller) had landed sixth, but he was out and rolling first-up as that action was going on, and he would get to within half a length of Semi Tough at the 1:22 4/5 three-quarters.

Semi Tough clung to the lead as they entered the lane, but Stag Party found another gear in the final eighth, overtaking Semi Tough and going on to win by a length and a half in 1:51. Semi Tough held second over Shake That House, with Lyons Johnnyjnr (Tetrick), and Buddy Hill (McNair) also moving on.

"He was completely different (from his second-place finish in last Saturday's Champlain)," remarked David Miller. "I was really impressed with him tonight. Last week Casie (trainer Casie Coleman) told me he just wasn't right health-wise. She got him good in a week, and he went a big trip tonight."

Stag Party is a Bettor's Delight colt trained by Coleman for the ownership group of John Fielding, Mac Nichol, McKinlay & Fielding, and West Wins Stable. He is now a five-time winner from seven trips behind the gate, and he has put away C$197,489. Bred by Fred Hertrich, he was a $125,000 acquisition at the Standardbred Horse Sale and is the first foal out of the Western Ideal mare My Lady Day (1:52 1/5, $97,908). My Lady Day is a full sister to Twist N Clout (1:53 2/5, $554,362). Stag Party was the 4-5 choice and returned $3.90 to win.

Despite the easy-looking nature of this win, Coleman remarked that it was anything but.

"Obviously anybody that watched him his last couple starts actually, he's been running in pretty good, so we had a sharper pole and a murphy blind," she stated. "We've been having a little bit of issues with him health-wise and soundness-wise. Saying that, I literally just finished sending all my owners a text message after he warmed up. I wasn't overly happy with his warm-up, and I told Dave if he didn't like how he scored out we're scratching him tonight, but he said he was way better this week than last week.

"We're going to see how he comes out of this. His issue is just basically a lot of colt soreness. I actually had him completely x-rayed, so it's all good news. It's just something that takes time, and we don't have time right now. He'll probably have a pretty easy week and just try to get him right for the final."

The field will line up as follows for next Saturday night's C$890,000 final:

1-Better Up
2-Semi Tough
3-Stag Party
4-Captain Ahab
5-Shake That House
6-Buddy Hill
7-Goldberg
8-Lyons Night Hawk
9-Lyons Johnnyjnr
10-De Los Cielos Deo
AE-Captain Crunch