10 Aug 20: This is a sad week for Annike Bye Hansen, her entire team, and not least for owner / breeder Espen Ski, as we are all trying to come to terms with Captain America's passing after a race at Klampenborg on Sunday, when he lost his life due to complications caused by dehydration. He leaves fond memories and also a void that it will be extremely hard to fill - if not impossible. At the age of nine, he was Sprinter of The Year in Norway last season. Horses like him do not come around too often. Below is our presentation of this top class sprinter published leading up to the 2020 season. 

Captain America - a true champion

11 Feb 20: Norway's Sprinter of The Year in 2019 is getting ready for another season, and it seems logical to assume he will be pointed to some of the same races he took part in last year. Captain America returned from an injury break to make his mark in the sprint division in 2019, and selecting him as Sprinter of The Year must have been an easy choice for the panel of experts.

The imposing son of Academy Award burst back onto the top stage when gaining an impressive off-the-pace win in the Zawawi Bro Park Vårsprint (LR) in Sweden in June. Winning the 1200-metres event going away at the finish, he was much too good for the likes of Riwaj, Brownie, Land's End and Sarookh. Captain America was coming off an eye catching third over 900 metres at Øvrevoll ten days earlier, beaten less than a length when trying to give 12kg to the in-form sprinter Story Minister. Captain America's season continued in fine style after the Bro Park Vårsprint, though Sarookh gained revenge on him when they ran first and second in the Challenge Stakes over 1400 metres two weeks later. Perhaps three tough races within the space of 24 days was his undoing, but Espen Ski's champion lost by just half a length and he was game in defeat. That was the case also when he went down by a length to Scandinavia's best miler, Duca di Como, in the Giant Sandman Polar Cup (G3) over 1370 metres at Øvrevoll in August. Finishing strongly, Captain America snatched second from the Group 3 winner Brian Ryan in the dying strides. Getting second in this race was as impressive as it was frustrating but there were weeks left of the big race season and more to look forward to. Just under a month later, Captain America was back at Bro Park, to contest the Clarion Sign Bro Park Sprint Championship (LR) over 1200 metres. For whatever reason, Brian Ryan was sent off the 2-1 favourite for the 13-runner affair, while Captain America looked much better value at 11-2. He was actually 22-1 when taking the Vårsprint, and seems to be a horse the betting public underestimates. Now, both these Norwegian trained contenders lost on the day, but Captain America's fourth place finish, 1 3/4 lengths behind the English trained Corinthia Knight, was a fine performance. Brian Ryan was unplaced. With one big sprint left in the calendar, the Norsk Jockeyklubs Sprintløp (LR) over 1170 metres back on home soil in early October, Annike freshened 'the Captain' up for another crack at Duca di Como. Brian Ryan was in the mix once more, as rain made the ground soft. The weather did not bother Captain America, who closed his season out with another big win. He took the race by a length from the surprise package of the race, Prime Red, who beat Duca di Como by the same margin for third. That Duca di Como went on to win the Peas And Carrotts Mile in Sweden a week later did the form no harm at all.

Captain America is now on handicap 92, as high as he has ever been through a career spanning 63 starts with 17 wins and 2.372.219 kroner in total earnings. (12 Feb 2020 / G Stabell)