LRL: Sacred Thunder is back with a bang
Stakes winner scores in season debut
Frank Vespe
April 11, 2026
Sacred Thunder spent most of his three-year-old season in stakes company butting heads with the best sophomores in the Mid-Atlantic.
Multiple outings behind $700,000 earner Barbadian Runner and Preakness entrant Pay Billy marked the first half of his year, and when dropped out of stakes company late in the season, he found himself squaring off with Blue Kingdom, who just then was blossoming, and Warp Nine, since multiple stakes-placed.
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So, after the Maryland-bred Holy Boss gelding had made 18 starts between July of 2024 and last October, it made sense for trainer Gary Capuano and owner John Hazard to give him some time away.
“I mean, he ran for like a year-and-a-half pretty straight,” Capuano said Saturday. “He ran some really, really good races. So I figured it was time to give him a break.”
That, it appears, was a wise decision.
Getting a perfect trip under apprentice jockey Yedsit Hazlewood, Sacred Thunder closed strongly up the rail to win a $53,000 second-level allowance/optional claimer Saturday in his first start since October.
“I wasn’t really expecting that,” Capuano said. “I figured he’d need a race and be a little bit short. I wasn’t sure how fit he was, but he got a tremendous trip.”
The early pace was contentious, with Prado Road, Northern Flame, and post time favorite Radical Right all skirmishing for early supremacy. Prado Road had his head in front after the opening quarter-mile went in 22.58 seconds, while Radical Right moved to the top after a half-mile in 46.83 seconds.
“He’s not a real fast horse, and he’s a big horse like that,” Capuano said. “But I was glad to see a bunch of them going out there early.”
By then, Sacred Thunder, eighth after a quarter-mile, had begun to rev up his run. Hazlewood had steered Sacred Thunder to the rail to save ground after leaving from the seven-hole, and as the race developed, he never needed to come off it.
While Radical Right surged to lead by 1 ½ lengths with a furlong to go, Sacred Thunder was on the attack to his inside, and Suremeanttobe was rallying to his outside.
In late stages, Sacred Thunder inched to a half-length victory over Radical Right, who was a nose better than show horse Suremeanttobe. It was a long way back from that trio to the rest of the field. Running time for the six furlongs on slow-playing main track rated fast was 1:12.09.
Sacred Thunder had posted five solid works at Delaware Park in preparation for his return, and despite Capuano’s sense that he might be short, the horse showed up big today.
“I give [daughter and assistant Tori Capuano] and them guys at Delaware all the credit, because he’s been up there all winter getting ready,” Capuano said. “They did a good job of getting him cranked up and ready to go.”
With the victory, Sacred Thunder now has five wins from 19 starts and career earnings of $292,970. Capuano said he hoped to find another allowance spot for his charge before a possible return to stakes company.
Sacred Thunder paid $12 to win and topped an exacta that returned $17.90 for a one-dollar wager.
NOTES Union Fleet blew up the toteboard to take the day’s featured third-level allowance. With Jose Vargas up, the Jose Magana trainee rallied to win the one-mile contest by a half-length in 1:38.88 and paid his backers $100 even… Yedsit Hazlewood won three on the day, while Vargas and Raul Mena each won a pair… Mena’s two wins came for trainer Michael Gorham…
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