Mountainous stroll in G3 feature trot

New Zealand harness racing needs star horses who make the public sit up and take notice.

Muscle Mountain (Muscle Hill) is every bit a superstar, and in the next 12 months, he might just become a household name to the broader public, with 2023 likely to be his coronation as the new king of Australasian trotting.

Like his predecessor, Sundees Son, the Greg and Nina Hope-trained six-year-old has an uncanny knack for making the difficult look remarkably easy. That was evident yet again with his demolition of some of the best Open Class trotters we have on offer in taking out the $27,500 G3 Lamb and Hayward Trot at Addington Raceway last night.

“It was just track work for him, to be honest,” said his regular pilot, Ben Hope.

“He was as good as he looked, and we should be right on track for the Group One in a fortnight,” he said.

Off his back mark of 30m, Muscle Mountain was safely but slowly away and giving his six race day rivals a bit of a head start. Unperturbed, Hope soon sent his charge to the front where he effortlessly jogged to a one length victory in a time of 3:19.9.

It was Muscle Mountain’s 20th win on his home track at Addington and his 25th in total from just 39 race day attempts.

“He’s a lovely horse now, even in the warmup he used to pull a bit. Now he drops the bit and is nice and relaxed. It’s quite funny that he’s become a man at the same time Bolt For Brilliance and Sundees Son have disappeared, it’s quite good timing for this horse, and I’m sure he’s in for a good autumn,” he said.

MUSCLE MOUNTAIN REPLAY

Speaking in the Breckon Farms winning owners bar post-race, his owner Ian Dobson appeared to douse any flames suggesting the horse might race internationally in the near future.

“He’s a very good horse Muscle Mountain, I’ve had rings from New York and Sweden telling me he will beat everybody. Nina Hope has been to all of those races, but so far, I have said no, I want to see him race at Addington. I’ve been coming to Addington since I was a teenager and I just love the place, he said.

“I am over the moon; I’ve never been in a trotter. I bought his mother at the sales, and she did everything right but didn’t have any speed. There was only one thing we could do and that was put her in foal, and you could say it’s luck, but there was a story behind it.

“I have Akuta and Don’t Stop Dreaming to back him up, so watch this space. I choose my horses carefully on breeding and also the trainers, they do the rest,” he said.

The G3 Addington feature trot saw a stable quinella with Ricky May and Midnight Dash (Muscle Hill) cutting the winning margin to a length on the winner’s post.

It was a Muscle Hill trifecta with Aardiebythehill making great ground late for third in his first up run since New Years Eve.

Whether the pair will be able to seriously challenge Muscle Mountain under FFA conditions in the G1 Fred Shaw on the same track in a fortnight remains to be seen. The $1.45 for Muscle Mountain looks better then most short-term deposits on offer by the banks.

For complete Addington results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink