Meadowlands: Hurrikane Emperor rallies to capture Graduate Series title

Hurrikane Emperor got into a lively outer tier second-over, watched a hot pace, and pounced in the stretch to win Saturday night's $250,000 Graduate Series final for 4-year-old pacers at the Meadowlands in 1:47 flat.

There was action from start to finish in this race. Brassy Hanover (Scott Zeron) got the first call from post eight, but he would be overtaken past the 26 second opening quarter by Workin Ona Mystery (Tim Tetrick). Workin Ona Mystery then got looped by Dancin Lou (Brian Sears), but unlike others Dancin Lou and Sears had no interest in letting anybody else move to the point, and he gave a parked-out Bllack Hole (George Brennan) the cold shoulder to a wicked 52 3/5 half.

Watching all this from second-over and ready to strike was Hurrikane Emperor (Mark MacDonald), and he had to have a big smile on his face as the duel between Dancin Lou and Bllack Hole continued around the final bend and to the 1:20 3/5 three-quarters. MacDonald cut his horse loose three-wide just past that point, and favored Bettor's Wish (Dexter Dunn) tried a four-wide bid from third-over.

In the lane Hurrikane Emperor came on with fresh legs and struck the front with about an eighth to go, and nobody could challenge him from there as he went on to prevail by a length and a half over Workin Ona Mystery, who found room up the inside. Dancin Lou held third, Brassy Hanover got shuffled back and wound up fourth, and Bllack Hole salvaged fifth after the brutal trip. Bettor's Wish didn't fire and wound up eighth.

John McDermott trains Hurrikane Emperor, a son of Hurrikane Kingcole, for co-owners/breeders Jonathan Klee Racing and Kuhen Racing LLC., and co-owner Carl Garofalo. Hurrikane Emperor won for the 13th time in his career, and he has now earned $534,476. He was sent off at 7-1 and paid $17.80 to win.