Ruthless Hanover matches Big M track record in Brower Memorial

Driver Tim Tetrick clung to relentless speed from Ruthless Hanover and clocked a track record-equaling mile for older pacing geldings in the $158,140 Dave Brower Memorial Pace on Saturday night (July 1) at the Meadowlands.

Ruthless Hanover reached for the lead and stretched hard-leaving Tattoo Artist through a :25.2 first quarter to sit briefly in the pocket into the backstretch. Once Tattoo Artist crossed over, Tetrick circled Ruthless Hanover back to the lead and kept the Tom Cancelliere trainee firmly on the bit while uncorking explosive middle fractions of :52.4 and 1:19.4. Ruthless Hanover managed to open a sizeable lead spinning for home – one too wide for 3-5 favorite Abuckabett Hanover to overcome – and stayed strong to finish 2-1/2 lengths to the good. Abuckabett Hanover settled for second with a gap back to Red Right Hand in third and Lochinvar Art A in fourth.

A 6-year-old gelding by Somebeachsomewhere, Ruthless Hanover clocked a 1:46.4 mile to win, matching the long-standing track record for older pacing geldings, set by Holborn Hanover in 2006. The time is also a fifth of a second off Ruthless Hanover’s lifetime best he set on May 28 this year – a 1:46.3 mile which set a world record for older pacing geldings on a five-eighths-mile track – as well as four-fifths of a second off the stakes record set by Bulldog Hanover before he became the fastest horse in harness racing history last year.