Im The Muscle was on the muscle at Freehold Raceway on Friday (Oct. 15), as he won the Preferred Handicap trot by three quarters 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 for the first quarter and :57 for the opening half-mile.
As they neared three-quarters, favoured 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.
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.
Jim Marohn Jr and Luke Hanners each won three races on the card. Marohn got a natural hat trick, winning the eighth with Be Best and the ninth 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 the first dash with Doc Halladay and the fifth with Pappy Rocks. In between, he won the third with So Take That, for trainer Alex Goldin.
Live harness racing at Freehold continues on Saturday (Oct. 16), with a 13-race card starting at about 12:30 p.m.
(Freehold)