Former Grade 1 Winner Dads Caps Retired

The sport of horse racing is such that an equine competitor can be nowhere near a ‘household name’ yet make a lot of money and enjoy a lot of success. Such is the case with 6 year old Dads Caps, who was retired this week after a very successful racing career.

Dans Caps earned $1.1 million for his career and won the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct twice. He won 5 of 26 career starts and finished second or higher in 14 stakes races. It was apparent that he was losing his form as he was winless in 7 starts this year. In his most recent race, he finished ninth in the Tale of the Cat Stakes on August 12 at Saratoga. His best finish of the year was in the Grade 2 Truth North at Belmont where he finished second. Currently, his owner and breeder Vince Scuderi has yet to formulate a retirement plan for the horse.

His back-to-back wins in the Carter Handicap were remarkable to say the least. He won the 2014 race by 1 1/2 lengths paying $23.60 to win. He beat Grade 1 winner Sahara Sky (who finished second) along with other top competitors like Golden Ticket and Strapping Groom. He came back to defend his title in 2015, once again winning by 1 1/2 lengths over Green Gratto and beat Grade 1 winners The Big Beast and Palace who finished further back in the field. He was unable to pull the ‘trifecta’, finishing third in the 2016 race behind Salutos Amigos and Calculator. Ironically, he finished 1 1/2 lengths off the lead.

Scuderi said the following in a release announcing the retirement: “We’ve had a tremendous run with Dads Caps. For four seasons, he took on the best sprinters of his generation, and his record is a testament to his consistency and heart. We could campaign him another season, but we have had a few farms looking into his availability as a stallion, and he has certainly earned that opportunity.”

Dads Caps is one of only a handful of horses to win the Carter Handicap twice dating back to the race’s inception in 1895. The others are Audacious (1920-21), Osmand (1928-29), Flying Heels (1930-31), Forego (1974-75), and Lite the Fuse (1995-96).