East Rutherford, NJ - Hurrikane Ali continued to impress with
another effortless win in the $25,000 second leg of the New Jersey Sires Stakes
at The Meadowlands on Saturday night.
The son of Rocknroll Hanover was away patiently for Yannick
Gingras as the field passed the quarter in 26.4 but once the dust settled
Gingras moved him to the front and the race was effectively over. Hurrikane Ali
closed out the 1:50.1 mile with a 26.2 final quarter and sets up an interesting
match up with Artspeak (who skipped the second leg) in next Saturday's $100,000
final. John McDermott, Jr is the trainer of the winner for owners Kuhen Racing,
Jonathan Klee Racing, Dr Ken Rucker and Robert Pucila.
Gokudo Hanover was a length and a quarter in arrears for
second with Edward Teach third.
The filly pacers also completed their preliminary leg obligations
and Wicked Little Minx scored a mild 10-1 upset in a front stepping career best
1:51.1 effort for driver Tim Tetrick. Wicked Little Minx was left alone on the
lead through friendly fractions while favored Stacia Hanover was mired in
traffic and left with too much to do at the end despite her ferocious 26.2
final quarter rally.
Trainer Nancy Johansson was racing Wicked Little Minx, also by
Rocknroll Hanover, for only the second time since she took over the duties
for owner Courant AB of Sweden.
Information on next week's NJSS finals will be available on the
SBOANJ website.
