IM the Muscle flexes his strength in Open Trot

Freehold, NJ — IM the Muscle was on the muscle at Freehold Raceway on Friday (October 15), as he won the Preferred Handicap harness racing trot by 3/4 of a length.

Leaving from post position five, Dan Dube briefly dropped his drive into the pocket, but changed his mind and came after early leader Justlikehim.

He cleared to the front just after the first quarter, and set early fractions of :28 second for the first quarter and :57 seconds for the opening half-mile.

As they neared three-quarters, favored Top Flight Angel moved off the pylons to challenge the leader, but Im the Muscle held his ground on the pylons.

In the stretch, Im the Muscle shook off the challenge of Top Flight Angel and established a clear advantage.

Although he encountered several strong late challenges, including Spruce Creek and Take a Wish, the wire came in time for Im the Muscle. The final time was 1:56 3/5.

Im the Muscle is owned by Thomas Ceraso Jr and trained by Paul Stafford. He’s now won 30 times from 99 starts lifetime, with earnings of $329,000.

IM THE MUSCLE REPLAY

Jim Marohn Jr and Luke Hanners each won three races on the card. Marohn got a natural hat trick, winning race 8 with Be Best and race 9 with Lincoln Tunnel, both for trainer Carmen Auciello, and the 10th race with Powerful Pulse, for owner/ trainer Marianna Monaco.

Hanners won two for trainer Izzy Estrada, taking race 1 with Doc Halladay and the 5th race with Pappy Rocks. In between, he won race 3 with So Take That, for trainer Alex Goldin. Live racing at Freehold continues tomorrow (October 16), with a 13-race card starting at about 12:30 PM.

For full results, click here.

From Freehold Raceway