Horse Racing Capsules: Unbeaten Muscle Hill is harness Horse of the Year
YONKERS, N.Y. — Muscle Hill overpowered the competition and ran away with harness racing’s Horse of the Year honors.
A perfect 12-0 record last year earned the 3-year-old trotter 164 of 173 votes from the U.S. Harness Writers Association, easily defeating fellow-trotter Lucky Jim and pacer Well Said for the sport’s top award.
Well Said was voted Pacer of the Year and Muscle Hill also earned Trotter of the Year honors in voting released Sunday.
Muscle Hill’s big wins came in the Hambletonian, Breeders Crown, Kentucky Futurity, Canadian Trotting Classic and World Trotting Derby. He set a harness racing record for earnings in a season with $2.45 million.
Lucky Jim won 17 of 18 races. Well Said won 10 of 14 races, including the North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace and Little Brown Jug.
The Dan Patch Award winners were honored Sunday night at Yonkers Raceway.
In winning the Hambletonian, Muscle Hill equaled the all-age world record of 1:50.1 for trotting on a mile track. He was trained by Greg Peck and driven in all but one start by Brian Sears. Peck was chosen Trainer of the Year and Sears was Driver of the Year.
"Somewhere along the line we expected somebody to challenge him, and they really didn’t," Peck said. "And then we started to say, well, maybe the crop (of 3-year-old trotters) wasn’t that good. No, I think he made them that way. I think they were actually a very good crop."
Muscle Hill won 20 of 21 lifetime races and finished his career with a 20-race win streak. His average margin of victory was four lengths and no horse was closer than a length at the finish of any of his 20 wins.
Lucky Jim also equaled the world record of 1:50.1 when he won the Nat Ray Invitational at the Meadowlands on the same day Muscle Hill captured the Hambletonian.
Division winners were announced in December. Among them were 2-year-old male trotter Lucky Chucky, 2-year-old male pacer Sportswriter, 2-year-old filly trotter Poof She’s Gone and 2-year-old filly pacer Fancy Filly.
Amen Hallelujah wins at Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — Presious Passion rolled to his second consecutive victory in the $150,000 Mac Diarmida Stakes on Sunday at Gulfstream Park.
The 7-year-old gelding and jockey Elvis Trujillo toyed with his competition throughout the 1 3/8th-mile turf contest, pulling clear from second-choice Winchester to win by 1¼-lengths in 2:13.49 over a course labeled "good." Feels All Right finished third in his U.S. debut.
Trained by Mary Hartmann for owner Patricia Generazio, Presious Passion bounced back from a disappointing fifth-place finish in the McKnight Handicap in December.
The multiple Grade 1-winner was an Eclipse Award finalist for champion turf horse and nearly escaped with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf last fall.
The 8-5 favorite returned $5.20, 3.20 and 2.60, while Winchester paid 3.00 and 2.40. Feels All Right paid 3.40 to show.
Presious Passion will now be pointed to the Middle East for the $5 million Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan Racecourse on March 27.
Earlier on the card, highly regarded 3-year-old filly Christine Daae won for the second time this year with a comfortable 2 3/4-length score in a $48,000 allowance race under jockey Corey Nakatani. It was the 2-5 favorite’s first start around two turns.
Compari takes Santa Anita’s Crystal Water handicap
ARCADIA, Calif. — Compari cruised to his fifth straight victory in the $100,000 Crystal Water Handicap, a turf mile for older horses Sunday at Santa Anita.
The favorite in the field of seven, Compari beat Enriched by 3¼ lengths in 1:35.00 and paid $4.60, $3.20 and $2.60. Enriched paid $4.80 and $3.40. Long shot Swift Winds was a half-length back in third and paid $4.20 to show.
It was the fourth win of the day for jockey Garrett Gomez.
A 4-year-old California-bred gelding trained by Martin Jones, Compari finished third in his racing debut but has won all five starts since, including three stakes. The homebred son of Redattore earned $60,000 for owner Harris Farms, boosting his lifetime total to $332,640.
Lights Off Annie wins Broadway Stakes
NEW YORK — Lights Off Annie scored a front-running victory in the $65,000 Broadway Stakes as racing resumed at Aqueduct.
The Friday and Saturday cards were canceled due to the snowstorm that hit the New York area. Lights Off Annie took the feature Sunday by a half length over Sapphire Sky in the race for fillies and mares bred in New York.
Fernando Jara was aboard for trainer Mike Hushion as the 5-year-old ran the six furlongs in 1:10.91 on the muddy track.
Lights Off Annie improved to 5 for 9, paying $15.60, $5.40 and $3.40. Sapphire Sky returned $3.70 and $2.30. Rightly So, $2.10, got third as the 3-5 favorite.
