Meadowlands: Mccusker captures delayed New Jersey Sire Stakes final

The New Jersey Sire Stakes final for 2-year-old male pacers at the Meadowlands that was not held on August 2 due to the early cancelation of that program took place on Thursday morning at The Big M following qualifiers. Mccusker, who came in as a maiden, got the winner's share of the $240,000 purse after a 1:51 3/5 performance.

Tom Horn (David Miller) was the early leader, but he yielded to Manolete (Todd McCarthy) past the 27 second opening quarter. Manolete then gave way to sit behind Power Code (Dexter Dunn), who came under immediate pressure from a parked-from-post nine Twin Fury (Andy McCarthy), forcing the half in a blistering 53 4/5.

On the last turn Power Code was able to dispatch Twin Fury, with Mccusker (Scott Zeron) going three-wide from second-over before the 1:22 three-quarters and Manolete angling out past that marker. In the lane Manolete went back around Power Code and dug in gamely under McCarthy's urging, but Mccusker kept coming on the outside and got up late to win by a head. Tom Horn fanned out after a shuffle and closed to get third, followed by Smooth Dream (Joe Bongiorno) and Beanzy Fresh (Yannick Gingras).

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Mccusker, who came in with just one on-the-board finish in four outings (a third in a NJSS leg on July 12), got his first victory for trainer George Ducharme and owner/breeder Winters Racing Stable. He has earned $124,000.