The recent rash of retirements from the Standardbred sport appeared to leave the cupboards bare for next year’s Open class for both trotters and pacers as many of the top 3-year-olds and a host of veteran performers left the track in favor of the potential riches of full books and solid stallion fees. To find that future for any would-be stallion there are significant hurdles that must be crossed and deadlines that need to be met. Syndications demand that stallions can cover a significant number of mares. Stallion fertility is always a major question mark no matter how qualified a horse is for the assignment and despite brilliance on the racetrack, it is never a guarantee of future fertility. One of those horses that appeared destined for a solid second career was Captain Albano, the top sophomore pacer in North America that concluded a brilliant season on the track with victories in the Matron and then Progress at Dover before trainer Noel Daley ceded the lines. “He was so brilliant in the Progress,” Daley said. “I mean he’s out there getting parked in 25 and change and just going on like it was nothing.” Following the Matron, Daley was caught up in the moment and in a post-race interview said it was too bad that the horse wouldn’t race again. Well, that was November and we’re in December now and Daley and ownership have had to reconsider the future for the soon-to-be 4-year-old son of Captaintreacherous. “He had some blockages,” said Daley about the initial fertility examinations. “He got tested a few days after the races and the numbers weren’t good enough.” For Daley and Captain Albano’s ownership there were a limited number of choices, but time was of the essence. Very often when stallions leave the track their initial tests aren’t satisfactory but many over time show improvement in numbers that would qualify them to cover a full book of mares. The problem for stallion owners come when there can be no guarantee that the stallion can achieve those numbers. Those who take part in stallion syndicates do so with the expectation of using their breeding rights or selling them on the open market. If a stallion can’t perform to high expectations that market collapses. ► For more breaking stories and features like this, sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter! For Captain Albano and his connections, a low early count and the clock ticking pushed a decision to bring the horse back to race as a 4-year-old, and that is something Daley isn’t that upset about. “The way he finished the season I expect him to come back as good or better next year,” Daley said on Tuesday (December 17) before preparing for a holiday back home. “He’s back with me right now and he’ll get tested again to see if the numbers improve. What we’re hoping for is that they increase enough that worst case scenario we breed him to some mares in New Jersey in 2025 and race him as well.” Daley and company find themselves in an enviable position because not all horses that don’t meet fertility standards have the same potential to come back to the races as a Captain Albano has. Some future stallions leave the track with infirmities as well that won’t impact their breeding performance but more than likely would limit their capacity to endure a rigorous racing season. For Daley and his partners, luck was on their side at least when it came to fertility testing this year. “I’m really glad that Sig Sauer’s numbers came back great,” Daley said with some relief about his top 3-year-old trotting colt that will stand his first season in 2025 at Hanover Shoe Farms. “I really wasn’t sure about how his fertility would work out since a lot of the Muscle Hill’s have had issues.” Captain Albano’s return to the track is certainly welcomed by racing fans and Daley and ownership are among those who enjoy that aspect of the sport. Of course they are also hoping he can succeed in the breeding barn as well. “There’s still the chance that he can became a full-time stallion down the road,” said Daley. Having the home-run horse as Captain Albano is usually ends with a horse retiring and going on to a lucrative stallion career with ownership getting additional income for years to come. To pull the plug on that endeavor can be a difficult pill to swallow, but Daley suggests that his group dealt with the decision quite well and are excited about the next chapter of Captain Albano’s racing-breeding future. “Right now, the stakes schedule hasn’t even come out, so I have no idea what our plans are,” said Daley, discussing the 2025 racing schedule for Captain Albano. As a coming 4-year-old there are enough races to build a resume before tackling more seasoned horses. From a fan’s perspective, Captain Albano brings with him some incredible ability that saw him win 19 of 27 starts over two years of stakes racing. Perhaps of equal importance was Captain Albano’s ability over any sized surface, something that obviously caught the eyes of Blue Chip Farms that wanted to see him become a dominant stallion in New York’s half-mile-track dominated landscape. Victories in the Hempt and Adios over the five-eighths mile tracks in Pennsylvania and a sweep of the Little Brown Jug over the swift half-miler in Delaware, Ohio showcased Captain Albano’s speed and versatility. Those attributes are not likely to leave him on the racetrack in 2025 and that’s exciting news to those that want to see great horses race. With so many standardbreds potentially entering the stallion ranks in 2025, it would not be a surprise (and rumors are already swirling) if there were others that didn’t meet the capacity required to be a full-time stallion and made their way back to the racetrack as well.