Fallout equaled the stakes and track harness racing record as driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Tony Alagna combined to capture the $1 million Metro Pace with the son of their 2012 winner, Captaintreacherous, on Saturday (Sep. 21) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Tim Tetrick floated the colt out from post five and dropped him in sixth going into the first turn as a three-pronged speed duel raged to the quarter in :26.2. Favourite Captain Optimistic secured command as the field started down the backstretch, and Fallout got underway first-over not long after.
Fallout began to pick past horses as they hit the half in :54.4, but Tetrick gave him a brief tuck into an open four-hole entering the final turn. The colt pulled back out approaching three-quarters in 1:22.1 and resumed his charge. Prince Hal Hanover (Captaintreacherous) (Todd McCarthy) came out of the pocket and put Captain Optimistic to a drive at the top of the stretch, but those two were joined by a soaring Fallout in mid-stretch, and he muscled by both of them in the final 1/16th of a mile to prevail in 1:49.1. Prince Hal Hanover edged clear of Captain Optimistic (Captaintreacherous) for second. That completed a Captaintreacherous trifecta in the race.
FALLOUT REPLAY
Fallout tied the stakes record set by Tall Dark Stranger in the 2019 Metro, and joined him and A Rocknroll Dance as the co-fastest two-year-old in the track’s history
The victory gave Tony Alagna, already the race’s winningest trainer, a fourth Metro Pace trophy. He and Tetrick combined to win with Fallout’s sire, Captaintreacherous, in the 2012 edition.
“It never gets old, especially when we can do it with a son of a horse we trained that won it, being a son of Captaintreacherous,” Alagna said in his on-air interview. “That just makes it all the more special.”
Fallout entered the final off his second career win in his elimination. The colt more than quintupled his earnings to $590,783 in Canada’s co-richest race and improved his record to three-for-eight. Alagna trains the freshman for Robert Leblanc of New York, Pryde Stables of North York, and Caviart Farms of Vienna (VA).
“This horse showed he had the ability, it just looked like he was going to take a couple of starts for him to get really fit and really into it,” Alagna said on the broadcast, explaining that the horse had faced tough competition in the United States. “We thought, you know what, we have good luck in Canada, let’s take him to the Metro and see what happens, and he just exploded up here. He’s been lights out both weeks.”
For complete race results, click here.
by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink