by Dustin Ross, for Tioga Downs

Nichols, NY — Vivid Photo showed why he is one of the best at what he does on Friday morning in a qualifier at Tioga Downs.

The 5-year-old son of S J’s Photo trotted through soft early fractions of :30 and :59.1 before throwing the throttle down through a back half in :55.3. The third quarter came in a brisk :27.2, while Vivid Photo came home on idle in a modest :28.1 as he stopped the timer in 1:54.4, over 23 lengths in front of the field.

It was the second qualifier at Tioga Downs for the career winner of more than $2 million.

“He is still just a week off yet,” said Hammer. “We worked on him last week and he has gotten better; we will work on him again this week, too. Everyone keeps asking ‘why don’t you start him,’ but I want to give him an easy trip. Those horses are going in (1):52 and he could go that right now but we have all summer to do that. We will bring him back here to Tioga and qualify again next week, then head to Mohawk on June 9 for the third leg of the Classic Series.”

All the talk from Friday morning’s qualifier will be about Vivid Photo, but equally impressive was Hammer’s 2-year-old colt trotter, Muscles Rule, that qualified as well. The son of Muscles Yankee, in his first qualifying start, trotted his back half in :58.4 and stopped the timer in 2:02.4. Muscles Rule was a $27,000 yearling purchase in Lexington for Roger Hammer and Frank Dettore.

“He is a nice trotting colt,” said Hammer. “I have been in about 2:10 at my home track with him, which is about seven seconds off. We will give him next week off, then qualify him three or four more times before making his first start in the Historic Series at The Meadowlands at the end of June. He is New Jersey-sired and we are aiming for the Peter Haughton.”