by Ken Weingartner, for the Breeders Crown

2013 Breeders Crown — 3 Year Old Colt Pace from USTA on Vimeo.

Wilkes-Barre, PA — Captaintreacherous did it again.

Captaintreacherous won for the sixth consecutive time, holding off Sunshine Beach in the stretch to win the $500,000 Breeders Crown for 3-year-old male pacers by a neck in 1:49.2 over a sloppy track Saturday at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. Lucan Hanover finished third.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Captaintreacherous defeated Sunshine Beach by a neck in 1:49.2 to win the Breeders Crown 3-year-old colt pace on Saturday at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.

The colt has won by a neck five times this season.

“Every time I race the horse I think it’s his finest moment and then he gives me another one,” trainer Tony Alagna said. “I think the horse just continues to impress.

“I thought once he got to the front he’d be very tough to beat. People want to talk about the ‘what ifs’ and I like to talk about the what’s happened. Every time it looks like they’re going to get to him, they say if I just had one more step, but they never get by him.”

Captaintreacherous left from post one and took the early lead before briefly yielding the top spot to Sunfire Blue Chip as the field hit the opening quarter in :26.1. Driver Tim Tetrick reclaimed the lead quickly and led the pacers to a :55.2 half and 1:22.1 three-quarters.

Sunshine Beach, the only horse to defeat Captaintreacherous this year, made a first-over challenge and closed in on Captaintreacherous as they neared the wire, but he could never get past.

Captaintreacherous, who was the 2012 Pacer of the Year, finished third in last season’s Breeders Crown.

“This definitely makes up for it,” said Myron Bell, who is one of the horse’s owners and manages the Captaintreacherous Racing ownership group. “This is a tremendous victory. I thank Tony and Timmy and all my partners.

“The Breeders Crown is the culmination of the year; this is a championship race. All the great 3-year-olds were here and he defeated them. Naturally it’s a highlight.”

Captaintreacherous is a nose from being undefeated this season. His other wins include the $980,000 North America Cup, $635,750 Meadowlands Pace, $500,000 Max C. Hempt Memorial, $360,211 Cane Pace and a $215,500 division of the Tattersalls Pace.

Sunshine Beach handed a first-over Captaintreacherous his only loss by a nose in the $500,000 Battle of the Brandywine in a world-record-equaling 1:47.4 mile.

Captaintreacherous has won 12 of 13 races this year, with earnings of $1,874,273.

Tetrick expected another battle in the Breeders Crown.

“It’s a horse race,” Tetrick said. “I knew it was going to be a sprint. Sunshine is a great horse. I knew it was going to be a race all the way to the wire, but my horse likes to win. I wanted to make sure I was in control and everybody knew it. I had to let one go and then remove and control my own destiny from there.”

Captaintreacherous, 3-year-old filly trotter Bee A Magician, and 3-year-old filly pacer I Luv The Nitelife all won Breeders Crown titles Saturday night. The three are the top three horses in the sport’s Top 10 poll and the prime contenders for Horse of the Year.

“I’m going to let my horse speak for himself,” Alagna said. “I think it’s very tough as a voter to be able to decide who is a better horse as far as Horse of the Year.

“I know we’re going to get criticized, I know we’re going to lose votes because we didn’t go to the (Little Brown) Jug. I’ll never apologize for not taking this horse to the Jug. I think the run he’s gone on since then speaks for itself. I let my horse do the talking for me. He doesn’t lose anything to me if he isn’t Horse of the Year. He’s Horse of the Year to me.”