Captain Albano rebounded in style after making a break in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship at Pocono on September 9, capturing his $50,000 elimination and the $525,000 final of the Little Brown Jug for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings on Thursday evening at the Delaware (Ohio) County Fair. With what he earned by winning the two races, Captain Albano, last year's Dan Patch Award winner for the group, went past $1 million in lifetime earnings. A pair of eliminations were held to set the final, and they were won by Captain Albano (Todd McCarthy) in 1:49 2/5 and Captain's Quarters (Jody Jamieson) in 1:51 3/5. The other horses to make it to the final were Captain Luke (Scott Zeron), Mirage Hanover (Dexter Dunn), Huntingforchrome (Matt Kakaley), Total Stranger (Dan Noble), Legendary Hanover (James MacDonald) and Sweet Beach Life (Matt Kakaley). In the draw for the final, Captain's Quarters landed the pole, with Captain Albano, Total Stranger, Captain Luke, Mirage Hanover, Legendary Hanover, Huntingforchrome and Sweet Beach Life drawn outside of him. The only driver with a choice was Matt Kakaley and he took Sweet Beach Life over Huntingforchrome, putting Chris Lems on the latter for the final. Captain's Quarters took advantage of his inside draw to make the lead in the final and Captain Albano quickly landed in the pocket. To their outside, Mirage Hanover had also shown speed for Dunn but wound up parked out as Captain's Quarters drove on to the quarter in 27 2/5. Captain Quarter's continued to the front the field to the half in 55 2/5 as McCarthy sat half-in/half-out with Captain Albano, not wanting to get locked in by Mirage Hanover. McCarthy then fully committed to the two-wide path late on the third bend. As they raced in the backstretch for the final time, Captain Albano made steady progress towards Captain's Quarters and got to within half a length of him at the 1:22 4/5 three-quarters. Captain Albano then found a gear on the final turn that Captain's Quarters couldn't match and cleared him past the midway point of the bend. From there, Captain Albano was clear to the wire, winning the final by three lengths in 1:50 1/5. Mirage Hanover went a huge trip and was second, followed by Legendary Hanover and Total Stranger. Huntingforchrome advanced from seventh to fifth in the final quarter. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter "I've got the shakes a little bit. It's pretty awesome," McCarthy remarked. "This race is such a prestigious race and it brings such a big crowd. It means so much. For horses to be able to go two heats like that and win, it really shows what kind of horses they are. I was just glad that this guy got to show what he could do today. I can't thank the connections and Noel enough for letting me drive this horse. It was such a great experience. "I figured that (Dunn) would probably be wanting to wait on me there and get that second-over trip. I was just hoping it wasn't going to be too early that I really had to commit. It wasn't until the top of the stretch here that I sort of had to start making a plan to get going. At that point the pace wasn't overly fast and I was kind of content to have him sit out there. The rest of it went pretty well. We had him rigged today with the Murphy on the inside and just kind of wanted to have him going out a little bit there on this half. It kind of worked perfectly for him. Once he leveled up with Jody on the inside and he couldn't see him, he was waiting for me to call on him. Once I did, he swelled right up off the turn and he was ready to go." A Captaintreacherous colt bred by Fred Hertrich III and his All American Harnessbreds, Captain Albano is owned by Patricia Stable, L. A. Express Stable LLC., Sjoblom Racing Inc. and Michael Dolan and is trained by Noel Daley. Captain Albano has 15 wins from 22 career starts, has banked $1,242,723 and paid $3.40 to win in the final as the favorite. "That was great he got to show himself off today," remarked Daley. "The Little Brown Jug is on everyone's bucket list. This is the first time I've won the Jug. I've won the Jugette, but not the Jug. It's pretty cool to check it off." After some bad luck in the North America Cup where he was locked in the pocket and the Meadowlands Pace where he had an impossible trip, Captain Albano has won the Adios, the Max C. Hempt Memorial and now the Little Brown Jug, putting him at or near the top of the 3-year-old colt and gelding pace group once again. "It's just amazing. Captain Albano's been a great horse all year," stated Dolan. "He's had a lot of bad luck. He finally got to show what he can do. I don't have words. I've got great partners; we're like a family. It's fantastic."