![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/captainalbanomay8.jpg\")
Captain Albano won the Borgata final on May 8 at MGM Yonkers Raceway. Mike Lizzi photo.<\/p>\nNorthfield, OH \u2013 The field is set for the 40th edition of the prestigious Grade 2 Battle of Lake Erie, as nine accomplished pacers will line up behind the starting gate Saturday (June 6) to compete for a purse of $250,000 at Northfield Park.<\/p>\n
Captain Albano won the Borgata final on May 8 at MGM Yonkers Raceway. Mike Lizzi photo.<\/p>\n
The Battle of Lake Erie once again attracted a star-studded group of older pacers from some of North America\u2019s top stables. The field features multiple stakes-winners and seasoned veterans, setting the stage for one of the most anticipated races of the season.<\/p>\n
Captain Albano, a career earner of nearly $2.5 million in purses, has been installed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite for trainer Noel Daley and driver Todd McCarthy. Captain Albano\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes victories in the $478,000 MGM Borgata Pacing Series final (G2) at MGM Yonkers Raceway in May and the prestigious Little Brown Jug (G1) at the Delaware (OH) County Fairgrounds in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ken Hanover, who won last year\u2019s Battle of Lake Erie and captured the Joseph Auger Memorial (G3) on May 24 at Harrah\u2019s Philadelphia, is the 7-2 second choice.<\/p>\n
Post Positions \u2013 40th Battle of Lake Erie
Post-Horse-Driver-Trainer-Morning Line
1-Women Layer \u2013 Luke Hanners \u2013 Virgil Morgan Jr. \u2013 6-1
2-Mossdale Ben N \u2013 Jim Marohn Jr. \u2013 Peter Tritton \u2013 4-1
3-Captain Albano \u2013 Todd McCarthy \u2013 Noel Daley \u2013 3-1
4-Helium N \u2013 Dan Noble \u2013 Christi Noble \u2013 12-1
5-Prince Hal Hanover \u2013 Matt Kakaley \u2013 Dr. Ian Moore \u2013 9-2
6-Ken Hanover \u2013 Brett Miller \u2013 Roland Mallar \u2013 7-2
7-For Once Inmy Life \u2013 Jordan Stratton \u2013 Cory Stratton \u2013 15-1
8-Bythemissal \u2013 Chris Page \u2013 Ron Burke \u2013 20-1
9-Huntinthelastdolar \u2013 Tyler Smith \u2013 Per Engblom \u2013 10-1
Note: Huntinthelastdolar starts from the second tier.<\/p>\n
With the richest purse in the history of the event and a field packed with talent, the 40th Battle of Lake Erie promises to deliver another memorable chapter in the history books.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The co-featured event, the Buckeye Distaff, will go for its first six-figure purse of $100,000. That field attracted nine of the top Ohio-sired mares in the country.<\/p>\n
Post positions \u2013 5th Buckeye Distaff
Post-Horse-Driver-Trainer
1-Real Star \u2013 Trevor Smith \u2013 Scott Mogan
2-Hey Hey Mama \u2013 Luke Hanners \u2013 Virgil Morgan Jr.
3-Naked On A Hill \u2013 Chris Page \u2013 Ron Burke
4-High Flyin\u2019 Filly \u2013 Dan Noble \u2013 Ron Burke
5-Prolific Fire \u2013 Mike Wilder \u2013 Todd Luther
6-Factory Girl \u2013 Dan Noble \u2013 Scott DiDomenico
7-Odds On Chesapeake \u2013 Todd McCarthy \u2013 Virgil Morgan Jr.
8-Tarapasta \u2013 Matt Kakaley \u2013 Todd Luther
9-No Foolin April \u2013 Brett Miller \u2013 Adam Short
Note: No Foolin April starts from the second tier.<\/p>\n
The 16-race program is loaded with stakes throughout as there are five divisions of Buckeye Stallion Series events for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings as well as five divisions on the trot side. There will also be four divisions of Buckeye Claiming Series 3-year-old male pacers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Live racing kicks off\u00a0at 6 p.m. (EDT), which also starts the first of five consecutive nights of live racing at the \u201cHome of the Flying Turns.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Northfield, OH \u2013 The field is set for the 40th edition of the prestigious Grade 2 Battle of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-209276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}