Alwaysinahurry Picking Up Pace for Capuano in Fire Plug

A week after getting his first wins as a trainer out of the way, Phillip Capuano will go after his first stakes win with Mopo Racing's Alwaysinahurry  in the $100,000 Fire Plug Stakes Jan. 21 at Laurel Park.

The 6 1/2-furlong Fire Plug for 4-year-olds and up and $100,000 What A Summer Stakes for fillies and mares 4 and older going six furlongs are among six stakes, including four sprints, worth $550,000 in purses on a nine-race Winter Sprintfest program.

Capuano, 29, worked as an assistant running his father Gary's string at Delaware Park in recent summers. Last year he began working for his uncle Dale in preparation for him taking over the stable when Dale Capuano retired effective Jan. 1 following a 41-year training career.

A 5-year-old Great Notion   gelding, Alwaysinahurry is already a multiple stakes winner, having broken through in the 2021 Concern Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. He has also placed in three other stakes and enters the Fire Plug on a two-race win streak, including the Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial Stakes against fellow Maryland-bred/sired horses in November.

Alwaysinahurry is the first stakes starter for Capuano, who earned his first win with his sixth starter, Thunderturtle , Jan. 13 at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. The next day he registered his first two-win day with Imagine a Cure  and Vance Scholars  at Laurel. He is 3-for-11 with one second in advance of racing resuming at Laurel Jan. 20.

"Instead of having somebody to fall back on if I need it, the buck starts and stops with me. There's nobody else for me to fall back on, even though I could always turn to my father and Dale if I had any questions or concerns. But, ultimately, it's on my shoulders now," Phillip Capuano said. said.

"If I started worrying about it right away, like picking up where Dale left off, I think that just would have been disastrous. Ultimately what I hope to do is kind of encompass what I learned from Gary and what I learned from Dale and just kind of make it my own," he added. "If I try to make it just one or the other, I don't think it'll work the way I want it to."

Capuano nominated Alwaysinahurry to both the Fire Plug and Saturday's $75,000 Jennings Stakes for Maryland-bred/sired horses going one mile but opted for open company to keep him sprinting. Mopo's ownership group is a partnership headed by married retired television personalities Maury Povich and Connie Chung.

Alwaysinahurry drew Post 3 in a field of 10 for the Fire Plug that includes 2021 Maryland Million Sprint Stakes winner Air Token ; Al Loves Josie , most recently third in the seven-furlong City of Laurel Stakes Nov. 26; 2022 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes winner Beren ; and 2022 Challedon Stakes and Dave's Friend Stakes winner Factor It In , among other starters.

Swayin to and Fro Goes for Three Straight in What A Summer

Baxter Racing Stable's claimer-turned-multiple stakes winner Swayin to and Fro , riding a two-race win streak, looks to make it three stakes in a row in Saturday's $100,000 What A Summer Stakes.

Swayin to and Fro had seven wins, one third, and $289,000 in purse earnings from 11 races since being claimed by trainer Mario Serey Jr. for $16,000 out of a maiden victory last May at Pimlico Race Course, her third career start.

The 4-year-old South Carolina-bred became a stakes winner in the restricted Shine Again Stakes against older horses last fall at Pimlico. Her two most recent efforts have been her best, winning the seven-furlong Safely Kept Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths Nov. 26 and the 6 1/2-furlong Willa On the Move Stakes, also over her elders, by 6 1/2 lengths Dec. 30.

Including her maiden triumph, Swayin to and Fro put together five consecutive wins last year before finishing fifth in the Seeking the Pearl Stakes at Colonial Downs in her stakes debut, one race before the Shine Again. She was off the board in two of her subsequent three starts prior to her current streak.

"She was a baby in the beginning but now she has grown up, so I put a little more pressure on her. Every time I put a little more pressure on her, she shows me more talent," Serey said. "I wouldn't be surprised if she won easy again. I think she (was) the best 3-year-old filly in Maryland. She's going to be really, really tough."

The competition for Swayin to and Fro includes fellow multiple stakes winners Disco Ebo , Fille d'Esprit , and Dontletsweetfoolya .

Completing the field are a pair of New York shippers in Lady Sheila Stable's Fouette , third in the Willa On the Move Stakes, and Highland Yard's Snicket , fourth in the Garland of Roses Stakes and second in the Union Avenue Handicap against New York-breds last year.

Entries: Fire Plug S.

Laurel Park, Saturday, January 21, 2023, Race 6

• STK
• 6 1/2f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 2:51 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Savoy (KY)	Grant Whitacre	120	Mario Serey, Jr.	20/1
2	2Five Dreams (KY)	Luis D. Rivera	120	Miguel A. Rodriguez	8/1
3	3Alwaysinahurry (MD)	Carlos Eduardo Lopez	122	Phillip Capuano	6/1
4	4Karan's Notion (MD)	Carol Cedeno	122	Nancy B. Heil	30/1
5	5Factor It In (KY)	Angel Cruz	124	Carlos A. Mancilla	5/2
6	6Yodel E. A. Who (KY)	Jaime Rodriguez	120	Jamie Ness	10/1
7	7Al Loves Josie (MD)	Xavier Perez	120	John J. Robb	12/1
8	8Pirate Rick (KY)	William Humphrey	122	Norman L. Cash	8/1
9	9Beren (PA)	Frankie Pennington	124	Robert E. Reid, Jr.	2/1
10	10Air Token (MD)	Jean Gregor Briceno	122	Jose Corrales	20/1

Entries: What A Summer S.

Laurel Park, Saturday, January 21, 2023, Race 7

• STK
• 6f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 3:21 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Snicket (NY)	Luis A. Rodriguez Castro	122	David P. Duggan	12/1
2	2Dontletsweetfoolya (KY)	Jevian Toledo	122	Lacey Gaudet	4/1
3	3Disco Ebo (PA)	Frankie Pennington	122	Robert E. Reid, Jr.	8/1
4	4Swayin to and Fro (SC)	Grant Whitacre	126	Mario Serey, Jr.	8/5
5	5Fouette (KY)	Horacio Karamanos	122	Linda Rice	9/2
6	6Fille d'Esprit (MD)	Xavier Perez	124	John J. Robb	5/2