Royally-bred Muscle Diamond justified his heavy favouritism to win the $18,000 trotting feature by two lengths on Friday night (January 13) at The Meadowlands.
The entire complexion of the race changed before it began when morning line favourite Crosbys Clam Bake was scratched sick. That left Muscle Diamond to inherit the favourite’s role at 3-5 after futilely chasing Crosbys Clam Bake last week.
John Campbell put the five-year-old son of Muscle Hill-Windylane Hanover on the front end through easy fractions of :29.1 and :57 for the first half before hitting three-quarters in 1:26 and kicking home in :28.3 to complete the mile in 1:54.3. Opulent Yankee chased all the way to be second with Anaffairtoremember rounding out the trifecta.
“He was good enough tonight, but not as strong finishing as I had hoped he would be,” said Campbell.
Muscle Diamond finished second in the Breeders Crown at two and third in the Breeders Crown at three before being sidelined for 13 months.
“He has matured physically and has filled out,” said Campbell. “He is taller and stronger. He was always good mentally when he was two and three. He’s being raced this winter so Brett can get a gauge on where to stake him this summer.”
Brett Bittle trains Muscle Diamond and shares ownership of the eight-time winner who has earnings of $669,706 with Charles Keller III, Charles Keller IV, and Dan Bittle.
For the second Friday in a row, Meadowlands newcomer Drew Monti scored a driving triple including $65.20 winner Its Chocolate Time in race 12.
Total handle on the 13-race program was $3,070,537, up one per cent over the corresponding date last year when 14 races were conducted.
Marcello Spano and Nicolas Roussel each scored their first Meadowlands driving wins.
(With files from Meadowlands Racetrack)