Captain Bombastic Rocks NYSSS Times Square

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – Team Hanley’s Captain Bombastic rocked his fellow New York-bred rivals with a dominating effort in Friday’s $100,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series (NYSSS) Times Square division at Saratoga.

Captain Bombastic was the 3/5 favorite under Luis Saez as he broke from post 2 and was the innermost part of a four-horse hard contact out of the gate that only Ariesberg on the rail did not join.

After recovering, Captain Bombastic went straight to the front end to duel with the 8/5 second choice Dream Bigger through opening fractions of :21.80 and :44.10.

Put to a drive nearing the 1/4 pole, Captain Bombastic dispatched of his foe at the top of the stretch and drew off to win by 5 1/4 lengths. The Jeremiah Englehart trainee completed the 6 1/2-furlong fast dirt sprint in a final time of 1:15.36.

“It was a battle,” Saez said. “It was a pretty nice race. I knew I had horse and I was thinking to sit second or third behind the speed, but when I saw Ariesberg didn’t break that well and I was there, I took it. When I came to the 3/8, (Dream Bigger) started putting pressure on me, but my horse was responding. When we came to the stretch, he went to the lead and took off. He was much the best.”

Dream Bigger was 2 1/4 lengths clear of Chowda, himself 8 lengths ahead of Slash Gordon. Ariesberg never factored into the running before completing the order of finish.

Captain Bombastic’s win was his second of the year following the Mike Lee Stakes and improved his overall record to 8-4-2-1 with $389,800 earned. The 3-year-old Forty Tales colt’s only off-the-board effort came last out when he ran a respectable fourth in the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes (G1).

“Luis was aggressive and it ended up being the winning move because he took the race to the outside horse,” Englehart said. “He knew what kind of horse he had under him and it worked out well.”

Captain Bombastic returned $3.30 to win and $2.10 to place, while Dream Bigger paid $2.10 to place. There was no show betting.