Muscle Hill juveniles dominate PA All-Stars
July 10, 2018,from PHHA/Pocono
Wilkes-Barre, PA — Prospect Hill and Fashion Possessed trotted matching 1:56.4 miles — the fastest to date in 2018 by 2-year-olds on a five-eighths-mile track — in their $30,000 divisions of the Pennsylvania All-Stars for colts and geldings Monday night (July 9) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. In addition to Prospect Hill, sire Muscle Hill accounted for four other winners in this All-Stars event.
A Muscle Hill-Louise Kemp colt who fetched $130,000 as a yearling, Prospect Hill was sent out between horses by driver Andy Miller to the lead before a :29 quarter and then rolled on in :59.2 and 1:28.4, nearing the latter station feeling pressure from first-over The Muscle Dog. But that one backed off in the middle of the far turn, and pocket-sitting favorite Demon On The Hill lapsed from gait soon thereafter. All that may not have mattered, however, as Prospect Hill finished with a powerful :28 kicker to win by 9-1/4 lengths over The Muscle Dog. Julie Miller conditions the very promising youngster for Stroy Inc.
Fashion Possessed was used most of a :29 quarter by driver David Miller to get by Marseille and set the pace in his division, and when favored Heavensdor Hanover misbehaved in the three-hole soon off the first turn, a virtual match race ensued through middle splits of :59 and 1:27.4. Marseille inched up on Fashion Possessed in the lane but he came up short by a head. Fashion Possessed, a Fashion Farms LLC homebred who made his purse debut after winning a pair of 2-year-old qualifiers for trainer Jim Campbell, is a son of Possess The Will and Sweet Love.
Curtis Salonick photo
Expedition was a 2:01.4 winner in his division.
For a field of six that had only four stay flat the entire 2:01.4 mile, the first division was very exciting, with six different leaders. It was the Muscle Hill-Formula Bluestone colt Expedition, who brought $230,000 as a yearling off a pedigree which had Broadway Schooner and Cooler Schooner only a couple of generations back, who proved most photogenic. He followed cover, seized a short lead after being left raw to the three-quarters, saw new leader Inisfallen fight back to retake the front, and then got by that one when it counted to win by a head in a :29 last quarter. Public choice Forecast, who brushed to the early lead and set a slow pace before being passed nearing three-quarters, came back for more in the stretch and was another three-quarters of a length back in third. Brian Sears guided the winner in his first purse start for trainer Marcus Melander and the AMG Stable Inc.
Sears and Melander teamed up in another division with Green Manalishi S (Muscle Hill-Noga Morich), making his first purse start a winning one in 1:57.2 for Courant Inc. Green Manalishi S will hope to retain the racing luck he enjoyed in his initial contest. Despite not having the most alert of starts, he still was placed third early before moving into the pocket when pacesetter Klutzy broke soon after a :59 half. Green Manalishi stalked new leader The Rave to three-quarters in 1:28, then went by easily in the stretch to prevail by 2-3/4 lengths, as might be expected of a horse who has stars such as Kit Lobell and Keystone Pioneer in his bloodlines.
Melander picked up his third All-Stars training triumph in four starters, and Muscle Hill his fourth siring credit, with the SRF Stable’s Gerry, a $225,000 yearling out of the dam Viva Las Lindy, in 1:57.4 in his purse bow. Tim Tetrick drifted Gerry to the lead past a :29.2 quarter, rated mid-race splits of :59.4 and 1:29.2, then powered home in :28.2 with little urging as the colt, now victorious in all of his lines, posted a three-quarter length margin of victory over Amico Mio Bi.
Muscle Hill rounded out his super night with his son Don’t Let’em taking the final division easily in 1:57. Yannick Gingras, in his only drive on the card, left well with Don’t Let’em and forced tucks in a :28.2 opener before rating a :59.1 half-mile clocking. The low-going trotter picked up the pace to hit three-quarters in 1:28.1, and then despite bearing out a bit swinging out of the turn, was kept to task through a :28.4 kicker three lengths ahead of runner-up Goes Down Smooth.
Out of the mare Passageway (who can trace back to Winky’s Gill, Winky’s Goal, and Supergill) and an $80,000 yearling, Don’t Let’em is tied as the fastest freshman trotter so far, with his 1:55 mile in his debut since equaled by the colt Greenshoe and the filly Mother Bonnie. Jimmy Takter trains the good-looking trotter, now two-for-two in purse starts, for Brittany Farms LLC, Christina Takter, John Fielding and Herb Liverman.
On Tuesday night (July 10), 2-year-old trotting fillies will take to the Pocono track in five divisions of All-Stars action.