‘Abuckabett’ caps “greatest night” for Harris

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Abuckabett Hanover (Betting Line-All Tucked Up) and harness racing driver Dexter Dunn got a pocket trip behind pacesetter Ruthless Hanover before moving to the outside off the last turn and surging through the stretch to win the $325,000 FanDuel Open Pace Championship by 3-1/2 lengths in 1:48.1 on Saturday (Nov. 30) at the Meadowlands. Ruthless Hanover held for second and Seven Colors was third.

Ruthless Hanover and driver George Napolitano Jr. left quickly from post 10 to get the lead midway around the first turn. From there, Ruthless Hanover reached the quarter in :26.2, half in :54.2, and three-quarters in 1:21.2. He was unable to fend off Abuckabett Hanover, though, who came home in :26.3 as the 4-5 favorite for trainer Andrew Harris.

“It was perfect,” said Dunn, who won five of Saturday’s eight major stakes at the Big M. “(Abuckabett Hanover) got out of the gate super, and once I saw Ruthless coming across, I thought that was the perfect helmet to follow. He took us right into the lane and he put up a good fight, but ‘Bucky’ was just so sharp tonight.

“Once you pull him off a helmet, he really explodes. Andrew has done a great job to keep him up all year. There are no easy miles for these open pacers, so they’ve got to be good to sustain a good effort all year.”

ABUCKABETT HANOVER REPLAY

Abuckabett Hanover has won seven of 15 races this season and earned $833,022, pushing his lifetime purses to more than $2 million.

“He’s grown up a lot, I think, from his earlier days,” Dunn said. “I wasn’t driving him, but I raced against him, and he had some quirks. But he’s really grown up and he’s just so fast.”

A 6-year-old stallion, Abuckabett Hanover is owned by Bill Pollock, Bruce Areman and Harris. That trio also won the $447,000 Valley Victory Stakes for 2-year-old male trotters with Monserrate earlier in the night.

“For my career, this is the greatest night I’ve ever had,” said Harris, who also saw My Girl EJ finish second in the FanDuel Mare Pace Championship; Voguish finish second in the Goldsmith Maid, for 2-year-old female trotters; and Seven Colors finish third in the FanDuel Open Pace.

The partnership of Pollock, Areman and Harris began in June 2023 with the purchase of Abuckabett Hanover. The group has built a sizeable stakes stable since then.

“He was the first one,” Harris said. “I’m so thrilled with this horse; he’s closed out the year awesome. I can’t thank them enough for the opportunity. It’s just been a dream ride.

“I can’t thank these guys enough for supporting me. I love them, they’re amazing, and I just couldn’t be happier.”

Abuckabett Hanover, who has won 22 of 74 lifetime starts and earned $2.04 million, was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms. He paid $3.80 to win.

A LITTLE MORE: If it wasn’t already locked up, Dexter Dunn’s five-winner night will no doubt give the 35-year-old New Zealand native a fifth Dan Patch Driver of the Year trophy in the last six years. … Jeff Cullipher, Ake Svanstedt, Chris Ryder and Andrew Harris tied atop the trainer leaderboard with two victories apiece. … A carryover of $4,810 motivated players to pump just over $42,000 of “new money” into the 20-cent Pick-6 pool. Those with winning tickets divided up the total pot of $47,210 by collecting $837.36. … All-source handle totaled $3,324,178 on the 14-race program, the biggest night of action since October 26 when over $4.3 million was put in play on Breeders Crown Finals Night II. … The racing schedule will be a tad different for the next two weeks, as live action will be conducted on a Thursday-Saturday basis with the usual first-race post time of 6:20 p.m.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Ken Weingartner, for The Meadowlands, with files from Dave Little