Saratoga Springs, NY — Mister Muscle scored in the $15,000 Open Handicap Trot on Sunday (March 8) at Saratoga.

Mister Muscle won the Open Trot at Saratoga Casino Hotel five times in 2019 after debuting here out of the Melissa Beckwith stable. As a 5-year-old last season, Mister Muscle (Muscle Mass) enjoyed a career year winning ten races and finishing second eight times en route to just shy of $100,000 in earnings.

Now in his 6-year-old campaign, Mister Muscle made his third start of 2020 in Sunday afternoon’s feature for trotters and this time Jimmy Devaux got the driving assignment.

Mister Muscle, who finished second in his first start back a few weeks ago, moved right out to the front end in Sunday’s $15,000 Open and though he worked hard to get to the first quarter in :27.3, he got a bit of a breather in the middle half before checking in at three-quarters in 1:27.1.

Shorething Fashion (Shawn Gray), who had a first and a second place finish in his first three Open tries at the Spa this season, sat the pocket to Mister Muscle on Sunday and gave him a bit of a scare in the stretch. The favored Cash Me Out (Brett Crawford) was looking to go back-to-back in the Sunday feature, but put in just a mild bid before leveling off late in the mile.

Mister Muscle stopped the timer in 1:56.2 to record his first win of the year, besting Shorething Fashion who wound up as the runner-up for the second straight week. Cash Me Out had to settle for the third spot.

Mister Muscle, who is owned by Patricia Scheeberger, was the 9-5 second choice in the wagering and paid $5.80 to win. The exacta with Shorething Fashion second returned $21.60.

Jimmy Devaux piloted three winners on Sunday’s card.

Live racing resumes at Saratoga on Wednesday afternoon with first post time set for noon. There is a $5,000 guarantee in the Pick-5 pool on Wednesdays and Thursdays during the month of March. The Pick-5 begins in the first race of the day.