Meadowlands: Ruthless Hanover holds on gamely in Graduate Pace

Ruthless Hanover moved to the lead before the half and held on in a thrilling three-horse duel to the wire in Saturday night's lone $75,000 Graduate Series race for 4-year-old pacers at the Meadowlands.

Driven by Andrew McCarthy, Ruthless Hanover was third when Cattlewash (David Miller) put the 27 1/5 opening quarter on the board, but McCarthy wheeled Ruthless Hanover to the outside past that station, and he took control racing to the 53 4/5 half. From there, Ruthless Hanover paced a 27 second third quarter, which blunted a first-over move by Allywag Hanover (Todd McCarthy) and set the stage for the stretch drive.

In the lane Cattlewash tipped out two-wide and advanced towards the leader, and to his outside came Captain Barbossa (Dexter Dunn), who had followed along on the cones in second and third. While it appeared those horses might be able to rally by, Ruthless Hanover dug in with all he had and staved them both off, defeating Cattlewash by a head, with Captain Barbossa a neck back in third. The final time was 1:47 2/5, a new lifetime mark for Ruthless Hanover.

"I was just trying to figure out how to play it," said Andrew McCarthy. "There wasn't much speed, so I pushed off the gate. I think the horse might have been a touch sharper tonight [than in his win two back]. I think I went too slow in his last race [when defeated by Allywag Hanover in the Graduate]. I wanted to go a little bit bigger numbers tonight and play catch-me-if-you-can.

"The one good thing about this horse, he's watching those horses on the outside, and he does enough to make sure he stays in front. He knows what his job is."

A 4-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding, Ruthless Hanover is trained by Tom Cancelliere for his brother, John. Ruthless Hanover now has a record of 9-3-2 from 16 career starts, and he has pocketed $166,875. He was sent off at 4-1 and paid $10.80 to win.

--McCarthy quote courtesy of the Meadowlands--