From HarnessLink (Yonkers Media, published 14 September 2025)
Captain Albano (Captaintreacherous) was a winner in his first start at MGM Yonkers Raceway after he captured Saturday afternoon’s Grade 2 $200,000 Aria Invitational Pace. A two-time Dan Patch Award harness racing recipient, Captain Albano covered the mile and a quarter distance in 2:21.1.
Driver Todd McCarthy kept Captain Albano on the outside from post six and watched as Coaches Corner (Jason Bartlett) and Racing Rebel (Yannick Gingras) battled for early supremacy. Coaches Corner would clear on the way to the 27.3 quarter and then McCarthy drove Captain Albano forward to wrestle the top spot away from Coaches Corner coming to the 56.2 half-mile station.
Desperate Man (Matt Kakaley), who landed fourth from a trailing post ten, was out and pressing first-up approaching the half, giving cover to Jamaican Rock A (Scott Zeron), Soho Firestone A (Dexter Dunn) and Verdun (Pat Lachance). Desperate Man advanced into second on the rim but could only offer mild pressure to Captain Albano to three-quarters in 1:25 and to the mile marker in 1:54 as Jamaican Rock A was swung out three-wide by Zeron.
Jamaican Rock A loomed to Captain Albano’s flank after being shown the clear racetrack, but Captain Albano, who was second in a hard-fought Jim Ewart Memorial at Scioto a week ago, had the answer to his challenge and to Coaches Corner through the lane, defeating the latter by a half-length. Jamaican Rock A wound up third, followed by Verdun and this year’s MGM Borgata Pacing Series champion Mossdale Ben N (Jordan Stratton).
“This horse has a heart of gold. He had a big start there at Scioto and with the ship it’s a real credit to his heart and personality to be able to come back and do that. He was pretty strong on the end still,” McCarthy said after the win. “He stepped out of the gate nice and I wanted to let Yannick and Jason sort their positions out before I kept pressing. We had to do a little bit to get around but once he got there, he settled nice for me. He’s just a true professional.
“I was kind of keeping an eye on Scotty down the back there. I knew when he’d be moving he’d probably be going pretty quick. I made sure I had a little bit of gas left in the tank. When I asked him at the top of the straight, he had a little bit left for me.”
Noel Daley trains Captain Albano, a 4-year-old son of Captaintreacherous, for owners Patricia Stable, L A Express And Sjoblom Inc., Sjoblom Racing Inc. and Michael Dolan. He has a summary of 23-6-2 from 36 career starts, has pocketed $1,928,194 and paid $3.64 to win as the favourite. The exacta was $9.72 and the trifecta kicked back $72.40.
