Harrah's Philadelphia: Ruthless Hanover defends Joe Auger Memorial title
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Ruthless Hanover made it back-to-back Joe Auger Memorials with a stunning 1:47 2/5 effort on Sunday afternoon, capturing the $100,000 contest for driver Andrew McCarthy at Harrah's Philadelphia. The 7-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere made two moves to control by the quarter and never looked back.
McCarthy let his presence be known in the early stages, gaining command into the first turn with Ruthless Hanover and briefly yielding to Coaches Corner and Dexter Dunn before regaining in a moderate 26 3/5 quarter for this quality field. Ruthless Hanover, the 4-5 favorite, saw Desperate Man and driver Matt Kakaley pull before the race was three-eighths complete but could not advance. Once McCarthy had Ruthless Hanover at the half in 54 seconds flat, he let the Tom Cancelliere-trained gelding flip into another gear and scorched the straightaway with a wicked 26 second third quarter, leaving the outer flow gasping for oxygen.
Through the stretch Ruthless Hanover was rocked by McCarthy and had enough to post a 27 2/5 final quarter, while Ken Hanover and David Miller rallied wide to gain the second spot. Early leader Coaches Corner rallied back late to get the third spot ahead of a gritty Desperate Man. Last year's divisional champion Bythemissal finished fifth after racing off-the-pace in his 2024 debut.
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Ruthless Hanover returned $3.60 as the public choice for owner John Cancelliere with his 24th career victory.
"I didn't have to use him hard to get the top," said McCarthy following the race. "Once I hit the half, I let him go and let them play catch-me-if-you-can."
Clearly again in 2024 in the Joe Auger Memorial, no one was catching Ruthless Hanover.
South Beach Star and driver David Miller blasted to the front at the start and led wire-to-wire to capture the $50,000 #SendItIn Invitational in 1:48 2/5. Miller had South Beach Star, trained by Mark Silva, on the front through fractions of 26 3/5, 54 1/5 and 1:21 before finishing off the mile with a 27 2/5 quarter in turning back Backstreet Shadow and race favorite Maximus Miki.