Hope delivers with G1 message for Nan

They say harness racing Group Ones are earned and not given, and that was the case in tonight’s Fred Shaw Memorial New Zealand Trotting Championship at Addington Raceway.

And despite being forced to do it the hard way, Muscle Mountain was realistically always destined to prosper, even with the added fun of a tactical arm wrestle of sorts.

Few if any expected Muscle Mountain to be crossed from barrier one at the start, but as he has done before in winning some of our biggest trotting features, Majestic Man (Majestic Son) threw the script out the window and came charging off the mobile arm to take an early lead.

Having conceded a head start to one unexpected race rival, soon it was two as after an unsuccessful attempt to arrest the lead from Jonny Cox, Matty Williamson had the Rowe Cup winner, Love N The Port blitzing around them to take control from the stablemate.

If Hope had even vaguely given much thought to plan b during the week, I doubt he had spared a thought for being three the pegs and having to come and sit parked for the lap and a half.

But as he did all throughout the Autumn prior, Muscle Mountain conquered all those before him to capture his fifth open class Group One race with his young reinsman showering the horses efforts with his praise.

“To be fair I probably got it wrong early,” said Ben Hope to Harness Racing Unhinged’s Nigel Armstrong after the race.

“This horse, he makes you look good and he did that again today. He can do it from a lot of different dynamics and sitting parked doesn’t really worry him. I think he could sit outside most horses and still be too good for them. Phenomenal is an understatement and I’m very lucky to be involved with him,” he said.

Love N The Port and Matty Williamson set up a lightning quick tempo resulting in a 1:58.8 mile rate for the 2600m journey which was subsequently the second fastest edition of the race in its 57 year history.

MUSCLE MOUNTAIN REPLAY

TAB Trot Slot rivals, Mystic Max and Midnight Dash were excellent in second and third and both running on with the purpose, the former was two and a half lengths away and the latter the same margin. But as admirable as they were in defeat, they were the best of a beaten bunch who had few if any excuses.

There was plenty of emotion as Muscle Mountain crossed the line with Hope looking down at his hands before a look skyward in acknowledgement of the recent passing of his grandmother Mary Hope during the week.

“I lost my Nan on Wednesday, she was my biggest supporter and would message me after every race meeting. Obviously she won’t be sending me a message today, but I sent her one and that (win) was definitely for her,” he said emphatically.

Nan had reason to be proud for although he may have been caught on the hop, he still played his part in giving Muscle Mountain clear air and not compounding errors. It’s a sign of maturity and growth that has come as a result of being battle tested himself since his debut season in the cart six years ago. ‘Dobby’ as they call him has been around for every one of them and therefor these two have practically grown up together before our eyes.

The duo have combined for 34 Group & Listed races together now and if the best way of learning is by doing something, the pair showed tonight they are formidable enough to seriously warrant favouritism for the Race By Grin’s at Cambridge later in the month.

“Look we respect the other runners immensely but they will have to be good to beat him. He jogged that tonight,” said Hope who seemed in the mood to be sending a warning shot of his own.

His father Greg was a little more subdued in the aftermath of the race, which was to be expected possibly, having dealt with the passing of his mother during the week.

“(He’s) Brilliant. They tried to beat him. But he’s a super horse,” said Greg as he watched the son of Muscle Hill enter the birdcage a five time G1 winner.

When asked about what looms to be on paper at least the biggest race in Australasia this season, Hope was even more succinct.

“Bring it on,” he said.

“We want to know where the pecking order is and we think our guy is as good as any of them,” he said.

Call it youthful exuberance, but young Ben was a little more colourful with his excitement levels, allowing himself to dream a little bigger with each passing day.

“It’s one of those races that I had pencilled down as soon as I found out about it. It’s one of those things that you cant get too excited about because it was such a long way away originally and you never know what could go wrong. But to have him in this form two weeks out, it’s pretty exciting. I think this horse will go pretty good I’d say,” he said wryly.

How good you ask? He might be the only trotter in Australasia that doesn’t need a front line draw to win the $650,000 feature on the 12th of April.

The Yabby Dam bred runners will have plenty to say about that, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Tubbs and Golino barns with what they have shown on their own patch.

The beauty of racing is that a scribes opinion is just that, and it’s the horses who will do the talking.

Fortunately we have just 12 more sleeps until that’s the case.

For complete Addington Raceway results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink