It's hard to get even one horse into the final of the Metro Pace at Woodbine Mohawk Park. For the 3 Brothers Stable, that was an objective when they went to the 2021 Harrisburg sale looking for yearlings. "That's what we were looking for," said Alan Katz. "We want to be in these kinds of stakes races." For Katz and his stable, the Metro is doubly nice considering that two of the horses they own in partnership with Caviart Farms have qualified for Saturday's C$900,000 Metro for 2-year-old colts and geldings, and are among the favorites to capture the richest event of the year for that division. "I've always been a big fan of Captaintreacherous," said Katz about the purchase of Save America, a Captaintreacherous-sired colt that's a half-brother to 2018 Metro Pace champion Stag Party. Save America captured one of the two $40,000 eliminations last Saturday at Woodbine Mohawk Park, pacing a mile in 1:49 4/5 for the second time in his brief racing career. "Two starts back he got a little hot," said Katz of the Champlain victory on September 10. "Nancy [Takter] made same changes, and he was much better last week." Katz teamed with Caviart [Buck and Judy Chaffee] and paid $300,000 for Save America, who appears well on his way towards earning more than that in his first year at the track. "We have a great relationship with them," Katz said. "We were partners with them on Captain Crunch and No Lou Zing and got along very well." Trainer Takter has had a long, successful relationship with the 3 Brothers Stable going back to the 2014 Horse of the Year JK She'salady. ► Get FREE Harness Eye PPs for Saturday's big Mohawk Million card at Woodbine Mohawk Park The memory of success north of the border doesn't escape Katz, who will venture north on Saturday to witness firsthand both Save America (post four) and Tickertape Hanover (post eight), a second-place finisher in the other Metro elimination race. "We haven't been there since 2014 when JK Endofanera won the North America Cup and JK She'salady won the She's A Great Lady," said Katz. Tickertape Hanover is a Huntsville-sired colt trained by another long-time 3 Brothers trainer Linda Toscano. "He was the best colt we looked at last year at Hanover Shoe Farms," said Katz. "He's a Huntsville and another son of Somebeachsomewhere, so we liked that. But we bought him [$160,000] as a horse to race on the Grand Circuit. If Linda told us he was just going to be good enough for the New York Sire Stakes, we probably would've sold him." It's a good thing Toscano knew what she had from the start because Tickertape Hanover has been as impressive as a 2-year-old could be without winning many races this year. With but one win in six starts, at first glance one might question his credentials, but to anyone that witnessed his effort in the Metro trial, the hard-fought second-place finish ahead of formerly undefeated Stockade Seelster was most impressive. "That was a pretty tough first quarter he had to go racing three-wide," said Katz, noting that Stockade Seelster and driver Jody Jamieson had squeezed out into the first turn, keeping Tickertape Hanover and driver Dexter Dunn wide and eventually forcing him into a tuck following a brisk 27 second opening quarter. Later in the mile, Tickertape Hanover pulled the pocket and would eventually go past the leader, but had to settle for second. "That other horse [Tip Top Cat] was able to come along the pylons and beat him," said Katz. "I thought it was a huge effort considering he hadn't raced for three weeks." Katz revealed that Tickertape Hanover had gotten sick. "It was just for one day," Katz said. That was enough for Toscano to pass on putting Tickertape Hanover back in at Woodbine Mohawk in the Champlain Stakes and instead prep him well for the Metro. "Scottie [Zeron] did a great job with this horse," Katz said, crediting the sidelined driver with teaching the colt to be a racehorse in qualifiers and then a few stakes engagements. "We're happy Dexter [Dunn] chose him," Katz said of Dunn, who has sat behind Tickertape Hanover in his last three starts including his lone victory, a 1:51 2/5 mile in capturing a Nassagawaya division on August 27 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. While the 3 Brothers Stable did pay significantly to come up with the pair entered in Saturday's Metro, it's a stunning feat to make it this far, especially given that they started the year with just five 2-year-olds in training. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter While Save America earned a solid draw with his elimination victory, he is surrounded by some extremely-talented first-year performers, including Stockade Seelster, who landed post two for Dr. Ian Moore. The State Treasurer-sired colt had won his first six starts of the year for Moore prior to last week's third-place finish while setting a lively pace. A 1:49 3/5 career mark was taken by Stockade Seelster, and given the favorable draw, he figures to be right there in the contest. Tip Top Cat got his first stakes victory for trainer Gregg McNair with the Metro elimination upset at odds of 31-1. Likely to be a much more modest offering this week, Tip Top Cat landed post three for the Metro final, the best post he's drawn during his brief career. Doug McNair guides the son of Always B Miki, the sire of last year's Metro and Breeders Crown champion Monte Miki. Hall of Fame trainer Bob McIntosh has a gelding from the first crop of All Bets Off that is more than a sleeper for this year's Metro. Moment Is Here (post five) paced his final half in near 53 seconds but couldn't withstand the late pressure of Save America while finishing second in last week's trial. Moment Is Here is a McIntosh homebred. Trainer McNair has a second qualifier for the Metro in Huntinthelastdolar, an altered son of Huntsville that finished a game second in the New York Sire Stakes final at Tioga on September 10. He came back to finish fourth in the elimination captured by Save America after suffering some road trouble in early stretch. Huntinthelastdolar gets significant post relief after landing the pole for the Metro. The Metro is part of a power-packed card at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday that also includes the million-dollar Mohawk Million for 2-year-old trotters and the C$615,000 Canadian Trotting Classic for 3-year-olds among the five stakes on the program which kicks off at 7:00 PM. Katz is also looking forward to this year's yearling auction with Captain Crunch utmost on his mind. "We've got a few we're going to keep," Katz said, referring specifically to a Captain Crunch colt from Horse of the Year JK She'salady. "We're definitely going to look for a few and support him like we did JK Endofanera."