Hightstown, NJ – Captain Albano, who set the track record at Batavia Downs in his most recent start, will go for his third win in a row Saturday (Sept. 6) when he faces nine rivals in the $250,000 Grade 2 Jim Ewart Memorial at Eldorado Scioto Downs.
Captain Albano is one of three Dan Patch Award winners in the field of older male pacers, along with Bythemissal and Abuckabett Hanover. In addition, past Ewart Memorial winners Little Rocket Man, the defending champ, and Charlie May are in the group of 10.
Saturday’s card also features the $250,000 Grade 2 Charlie Hill Memorial for older trotters as well as Ohio Sire Stakes action for 2- and 3-year-olds.
Captain Albano heads to the Ewart Memorial off his 1:50.1 triumph in the Grade 3 Robert J. Kane Memorial Invitational on Aug. 23 at Batavia Downs. The time broke the track’s all-time pacing record of 1:50.2 set by American Dealer N in the 2022 Kane.
In his previous start on Aug. 16, Captain Albano won the Grade 3 Always B Miki Invitational at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs in 1:48.2.
For the season, the 4-year-old stallion has won three of seven races and earned $194,941 for trainer Noel Daley and owners Patricia Stable, LA Express & Sjoblom Inc., Sjoblom Racing, and Michael Dolan. Lifetime, the son of Captaintreacherous-Angelou has captured 22 of 34 starts and banked $1.76 million. He received Dan Patch Awards following his 2- and 3-year-old campaigns.
“You never know how they’re going to come back at 4, but the only time I was disappointed with him was his one start at The Meadowlands (finishing fourth in a division of the Sam McKee Memorial on Aug. 2),” Daley said. “He wasn’t any good that day, but he’s been great in his next two starts. I’m real happy with him and where we’re at now.
“He’s just a medium-sized horse, but he’s a real bulldog of a horse. He ended last year as good as he’d been all year. He appears to be a horse that gets better as the year goes on, which is always good.”
Daley considered sending Captain Albano to the Canadian Pacing Derby at Ontario’s Woodbine Mohawk Park, which contested its eliminations on Aug. 23 and final on Aug. 30, but decided to keep the horse in the U.S. based on racing opportunities leading up to the Breeders Crown at Mohawk in October.
“I can race him two weeks and then skip a week all the way through to the Breeders Crown, so I decided to do it this way,” Daley said. “We can keep him in a good little routine here.”
Captain Albano and driver Todd McCarthy will leave from the second row’s post 10 in the Ewart Memorial.
“We’ve got the second line, but Todd will work something out there,” Daley said. “(Captain Albano) has got an advantage on the smaller tracks because he gets around them so well when some of them don’t. If he’s having a good day, I don’t have to worry about him because I know I’m competitive with anyone.”
Abuckabett Hanover, coming off a win in the Open at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Aug. 30, will start from post eight. Bythemissal, who equaled Canada’s all-time pacing record of 1:46.4 while winning his elimination of the Canadian Pacing Derby at Mohawk, will leave from post nine. Abuckabett Hanover and Bythemissal have both surpassed $2 million in career earnings, as has 2022 Ewart winner Charlie May (post six).
Other horses in the field include Ervin Hanover, who saw a three-race win streak snapped when he missed by a head in the Grade 1 Canadian Pacing Derby final on Aug. 30, multiple Kentucky Sire Stakes champion Women Layer and McKee Memorial division winner Captain Luke.
The 10-horse field for the Charlie Hill Memorial includes millionaire Hillexotic, who finished third in the Grade 1 Maple Leaf Trot at Mohawk on Aug. 30.
Racing begins at 5:52 p.m. at Eldorado Scioto Downs. For Saturday’s complete card, click here. For free race day programs, visit the track’s website.