Muscle Hill Among Stars At Qualifiers

Published: May 14, 2009 07:26 pm EDT

Earlier this morning, the winter book favourite for this year’s Hambletonian made his first qualifying appearance of the season for trainer Greg Peck

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That horse would be none other than Muscle Hill, who finished off a brilliant rookie campaign with a 1:53.3 victory in the $700,000 final of the Breeders Crown at The Meadowlands.

In this morning’s qualifying assignment, the three-year-old son of Muscles Yankee sat third to the quarter pole before brushing to the top for Brian Sears and laying down middle panels of :58.1 and 1:27.1 before kicking home in :28.3 en route to a 1:55.4 victory.

Mister Big turned in his fourth qualifying effort of the season, and it was winning one in a time of 1:52 for trainer Virgil Morgan, Jr. and driver Brian Sears. The six-year-old son of Grinfromeartoear appears to be primed and ready to add to his $3.3 million bankroll.

A trio of Pepsi North America Cup Eligibles finished 1-2-3 in the tenth qualifier of the morning, with Mysticism coming out on top in 1:54.2 for driver Tim Tetrick. That son of Dragon Again edged out fellow Glamour Boys – Fireintheshark and Mclaren.

The eleventh qualifier was also loaded with a number of sophomore stars. In fact, the top four finishers are eligible to the Pepsi North America Cup.

Dial Or Nodial went wire-to-wire in 1:52.3 with a final quarter clocked in :26.4 for driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Jim Campbell. The son of Western Ideal, who was making his second appearance of the season, won by a length over last year’s Breeders Crown winner Well Said. Panmunjom was third and Precious Medal rounded out the top four.


Lavec Dream
, the winner of the 2007 Armbro Flight Invitational, kicked off this morning’s qualifying session with a 1:55.2 victory over Windsong Espoir, who now hangs his harness bag in the barn of trainer Trond Smedshammer. That son of Kadabra was voted Canada’s Two-Year-Old Trotting Colt of the Year in 2007. This morning’s prep was his first charted line of the season.

To view Thursday’s results, click here.

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