Muscle Hill was an easy selection as New Jersey’s Standardbred Horse of the Year in 2009
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In a few weeks, he might even be North America’s Horse of the Year.
A son of super stallion Muscles Yankee, who stands at Perretti Farms in Cream Ridge, NJ, Muscle Hill will begin his breeding career in 2010 at Southwind Farm in Pennington, NJ.
On the track, Muscle Hill was flawless in 2009, winning all 12 of his starts and extending his winning streak to 20.
His 20 wins in 21 career outings was marred by his only loss, which came in his first start at two on July 3, 2008, when he finished second by a neck to Homer Jay in a New Jersey Sire Stakes preliminary leg. He rebounded the next week to win the $175,000 final and annexed the $500,000 Peter Haughton Memorial three weeks later.
In 2009, the Greg Peck trainee swept through the premier events for three-year-old trotters, including a six-length victory in the $1.5 million Hambletonian on August 8 at the Meadowlands. His time of 1:50.1 equaled the all-age record on a mile track.
His other stakes victories included the $500,00 Kentucky Futurity, $1 million Canadian Trotting Classic, $540,000 World Trotting Derby, $200,000 American-National, and, at the Meadowlands, the $185,250 Stanley Dancer Memorial and $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Championship.
He concluded his season on October 24 when he became only the third trotter to win the Breeders Crown at ages two and three, joining Mack Lobell (1986-87) and Malabar Man (1996-97).
In 2009, he set the sport’s single seasonal purse record with $2,501,381, lifting his lifetime total to $3,318,682.
Jerry Silva of Long Beach, NY and Tom and Lou Pontone’s TLP Stable of Kearny, NJ purchased the colt as a yearling and added Muscle Hill Racing LLC of Long Beach, NY and Southwind Farm of Pennington, NJ to the partnership in April of 2009.
Muscle Hill will be among those honoured at the New Jersey Equine Advisory Board’s 53rd annual New Jersey Breeders’ Awards Luncheon at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at Charley’s Other Brother Restaurant, 1383 Monmouth Road, Eastampton Township, NJ.
The New Jersey Equine Advisory Board is a panel of 48 members, representing 16 different breed groups and additional agricultural organizations. One of the board's primary functions is to recommend horse breeding and development programs to the New Jersey Board of Agriculture.
For banquet tickets and information about the New Jersey Equine Advisory Board, contact Debra Moscatiello at 609-984-4389 or at [email protected].
(SBOANJ)