by Greg Peck

Trainer Greg Peck is preparing Muscle Hill for the August 8 Hambletonian at The Meadowlands. The son of Muscles Yankee won his division of the Dancer Memorial at The Meadowlands on July 17 by six lengths in 1:52.1, with no serious challengers. Here are his thoughts on that race and the road ahead as Muscle Hill faces the next step to the Hambletonian — elimination races on August 1.

Greg Peck

He was fresh, that’s for sure. He does a lot of things that amaze me, like the way he left out of there, :27.2 from the rail and then sprinted home in :27.3. He showed another dimension, the “leaving” dimension. Normally, he doesn’t leave the gate like that, he doesn’t have to, really. Brian (driver Sears) obviously chose to take command the other night at the outset. I was surprised that it happened, because generally the favorite at The Meadowlands makes the lead somewhere down the backstretch after getting away third or fourth. From the outset, it looked like he wanted to stay up close and protect the rail and that’s what he did.

He certainly cools out well and he feels great today. He jogged today and walked yesterday and he’s ready to get started. It’s less than two weeks until the eliminations now. I’ll train him on Saturday here at White Birch Farm (outside Allentown, N.J.), probably in around 1:57. That’s what I usually do, about seven days before I’m going to race him, so that’s what I’ll do on Saturday, or Friday. I’ll watch the weather forecast and see what the weather looks like. This time of year, you can have the thunderstorms and rain and I want to make sure the track is right.

Federal Flex was impressive (in the Dancer Stake on July 17) and so was Explosive Matter, by virtue of making a break at the start and then coming back to get second. Both of them showed well. It’s kind of what I thought; that it would be those three who looked like the strongest contenders, Muscle Hill, Federal Flex and Explosive Matter.

My Back Pages’ (Muscle Hill’s stablemate, who finished seventh to Federal Flex after making a break) performance on Friday bothers me because I want to see him do well. I do feel that if I can get him back to where he was after winning two legs of the New Jersey Sire Stakes, he could be competitive in the Hambletonian, outside of those top three. He’s got a couple of soundness issues that I have to get straightened away and I’m hopeful he’ll come back around good again and go in the Hambletonian as well. I think I’ve got the answer as to what needs to be fixed, but not always can you get it fixed like you’d like. The trainer, along with the veterinarian and the driver, try to figure out what leg, what joint, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be successful in getting this resolved soon.

Caviart Annie will go in the Oaks. She’s living outside at the Wiggins’ family farm in Newtown, Pennsylvania. She got off the plane from California, two days later, she tied up. I looked at her lines last year and she wasn’t any good (one win in nine starts), but she was very good this year in California. The only difference that I knew was that in California she lived outside, therefore, didn’t tie up. Once I got the tie up problem resolved, she’s lived outside ever since, she just comes in to race. She has another filly out with her, so she has company and a run in shed.

Tying up seems to have become a big issue over the last several years. You can get in to different medications to treat it, but what I find more and more in training horses, that you want to keep it as simple as you possibly can and that’s an example of how it works. Living outside, moving all the time, relaxing all the time is called for, because tying up seems to be a combination of nervousness and the ratio of feed relative to work they get. It seems that with the moving that she does, that keeps her from tying up. She won in 1:55.1 (on July 16 in an overnight race at The Meadowlands, her career best time) and I see that one of the divisions of the Miller Memorial (a Hambletonian Oaks prep race) went in 1:55.2. She’s getting better and I hope to do well with her.

My boys are still at camp, but sometimes even things with the horses will make me think of them. Muscle Hill reminds me of Sean, (Peck’s 14 year-old son) when he ran in the Philadelphia Marathon last fall. I said, “My gosh, Sean, I can’t believe you did that.” He said, “Dad, it was no big deal.” I think if Muscle Hill could talk, that’s what he might say. I’m the trainer and he amazes me, but he acts like it’s no big deal, similar to Sean and the Marathon. Sean ran the Marathon the Sunday after the Breeders Crown eliminations last November. His time was 4:20 for 26.2 miles and he was first in his age division, 14 and under. The other thing that comes in to play with Sean in the Marathon and the horses is not just how physically strong they have to be, but mentally strong as well. Muscle Hill has the physical and mental strength.

Brendan (age 11) comes home from camp in New Hampshire on Saturday and Sean is there for another three weeks. He’s still writing two letters a day or maybe every other day, depends when the postman gets them here. He’s very, very consistent and thoughtful. I just got a letter today, and here’s what he said: “Mom (Nancy Webster Peck) and Dad, I just received three letters from you. Thank you for writing and also thanks for the paper (at two letters a day, Brendan goes through a lot of paper). I just got back from my overnight to Mount Liberty. Sean’s friend Gavin came. The whole hike was 10.6 miles. The only problem is I forgot to bring the camera. I can’t believe how fast three weeks has gone by. I can’t wait to visit Bob and Nina and Bernie and Grace (his grandparents) when I come back. How are things at home? Did you race at all, Dad? I love you more than anything in the whole wide world and I really miss you. Please write back. Love, Brendan.”