Muscle Hill named August Horse of the Month
September 1, 2009,by John Pawlak, the U.S. Trotting Association
Columbus, OH — Jerry Silva, Muscle Hill Racing, T L P Stable and Southwind Farm’s Muscle Hill, who dominated the sport’s headlines by winning the $1.5 million Hambletonian Final and setting a track and stakes record in the $200,000 American-National Stakes during the month just ended, was named the Horse of the Month by the U.S. Trotting Association.
“Dominant” was the word most often used to describe the Greg Peck-trained and Brian Sears-driven Muscle Hill, who began the month with an easy, 1:52.3 victory in his Hambletonian elimination, and then was even sharper in the final, scoring a six length 1:50.1 win in the sport’s most important trotting race. The mile was a stakes, track, and world record.
Peck and his owners decided to pass on a Trotting Triple Crown attempt, and following a form-maintaining qualifying race win at the Red Mile they journeyed to Chicago to race in the American-National. They didn’t disappoint the Windy City crowds; Muscle Hill set a stakes and track record with a 1:52.3 victory. In the process he pushed his win streak to 14 races, and he has now earned nearly $2 million.
“He’s pretty much like a Thoroughbred in that he stays in great shape without having to race a lot, and that’s a big benefit for him,” a beaming Greg Peck said in the American-National winner’s circle. “Now we’ll head to Du Quoin and see if we can’t do the same in the World Trotting Derby there.”
Fans of the sport — and in particular of the son of Muscles Yankee-Yankee Blondie — breathlessly await his mile at Du Quoin, where the all-age world trotting mark of 1:49.3 could be broken.