While the horse garnering most of the attention this week in the Dave Menary stable is Hes Watching, a top contender in Saturday night’s $1-million North America Cup, his stablemate, Muscle Babe, also deserves some respect.
The three-year-old trotting filly will vie for her third straight win in the second of two $105,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold divisions at Mohawk Racetrack on Monday. It was at the Campbellville track that the daughter of Muscle Mass recorded her previous two victories, in the elimination and final of the SBOA stakes which earned her $101,000.
Those races were the first for the filly under Menary’s watch. She had been trained by Mike Brink during her starts south of the border. "She is a big filly and a good looker, tall and sleek and is probably bigger than many of the Muscle Mass horses," noted Menary.
James MacDonald piloted Muscle Babe in both SBOA victories and will be back behind her on Monday night when she starts from Post 2.
"She was one of two that Kjell Andersen of Norway sent to me and her stock went up the first time I trained her. We went into that SBOA stake with a lot of confidence,” added Menary.
Andersen bred Muscle Babe who is the third foal from former OSS star Oaklea Odessa, a winner of $464,000 during her career under the guidance of trainer John Bax, who will be starting Riveting Rosie against Muscle Babe in Monday night’s contest.
A winner of more than $460,000 from just eight starts as a rookie, Riveting Rosie was named last year’s two-year-old trotting filly of the year in Canada. Although off to a slower start this season, Riveting Rosie’s connections are looking for a reversal in form when she starts from Post 6 with Paul MacDonell at the lines.
Both Riveting Rosie and Muscle Babe are daughters of Muscle Mass from Balanced Image dams and they sold at the same sale, mere moments apart. ‘Rosie’ proved a steal at $17,000 at the Lexington Select Sale where she sold as hip number 645, while Muscle Babe, hip 642, was bought back by Andersen at $15,000 in what has proven another astute move.
Starting from the rail in the same division is another daughter of Muscle Mass: Mystical Wishes, who is riding a two-race winning streak. Sylvain Filion has been tapped to drive for trainer Meg Crone.
The first of the two Gold divisions (Race 3) marks the 2014 debut of Miss Aultsville, another leading performer in this division last year with $151,000 banked. The Kadabra miss finished second to Riveting Rosie in the season-concluding Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final last September, her final two-year-old start.
The homebred filly is trained by John Kopas of Milton, Ont., who co-owns with Old Aultsville Stable of Mississauga, Ont., and Pealer Pen of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. She’s drawn Post 9 with her regular pilot Jack Moiseyev at the controls.
This is the first OSS Gold event for this group in 2014. Their counterparts in the Grassroots will square off the next night, June 17, at Mohawk.
To view the harness racing entries for Monday at Mohawk, click the following link: Monday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.
(OSS)