Muscle Hill will line up behind the starting gate for the fifth straight week when he takes on nine other rivals in Saturday’s $1 million Canadian Trotting Classic
for trainer Greg Peck, who is brimming with confidence in this year’s Hambletonian winner.
“He’s staying in good shape, ready to go,” trainer Greg Peck said. “He is at Dr. David Goodrow’s private training center in Cambridge. He eats a textured feed, like a sweet feed, and that plus rice bran mixed in to give him some more fat content.
“I’m on my way to Lexington to qualify (Peter Haughton Memorial winner) Holiday Road tomorrow (Tuesday). One of my staff, Enrico Robinson, will be there to train him this week. He’ll train Wednesday and we’ll go by feel, somewhere between 2:10 and 2:15 for the mile.”
Peck said Muscle Hill had no problems handling his third different racetrack in as many weeks.
“I got interviewed by Trot Radio of Standardbred Canada and the headline almost sounded like I thought there was a problem with the surface at Mohawk, but that’s not the way it should have been characterized at all,” Peck said. “What I said was that they are excellent racetracks and it’s not just them, but all racetracks, seem for some reason too hard for my liking. I said in the interview that all I’m asking for is more water and more track conditioner and lots of stone dust and you’ll have a great racetrack. That’s what they did and the track was great.
“I’m from Canada (Sydney, Nova Scotia), so I was going home. I know that stone dust in Canada is the same as it is here in the U.S., so I never thought that was an issue. Having raced up there before, the last time I took Lady Mattgalene up there, I made a shoeing change and I should have left her as she was. You learn by experience. The track was fine and I made sure to thank the track crew and (Race Secretary) Scott McKelvie and (Senior Vice President for Racing) Jamie Martin for making sure the track was much to Muscle Hill’s liking.”
Peck said the race on Saturday has special significance for him.
“This is Canada’s Hambletonian,” he said. “It is my home country and I was most happy to be there and I’d love to win it, as close to my home turf as possible. I grew up watching this race and the Maple Leaf Trot (for older horses) so I’m certainly very happy to win the elimination and hope we can win the final.”
Although he picked post one for the Hambletonian, Peck deferred to driver Brian Sears for the Trotting Classic.
“We picked post four,” Peck said. “We had first pick and that’s what Brian wanted so that’s what we picked. He likes to have options. It looks like at Mohawk, you want to be somewhere toward the middle of the gate rather than my beloved rail. It was me who insisted on the rail in the Hambletonian, so I said it was time to let Brian choose.”
Peck also reiterated that Sears’ decision to go to Canada for committed drives on September 5 when it looked like the World Trotting Derby might be a rain out was not a problem for the Muscle Hill camp. Luke McCarthy drove Muscle Hill to victory in the World Trotting Derby.
“It was nice that Brian was reunited with Muscle Hill (in the Trotting Classic elimination) because he’s been there from day one,” Peck said. “At the time he left Du Quoin, he looked like they wouldn’t race. Make no mistake, Brian is very committed to Muscle Hill. He checks in on him all the time, at the point where he left to go to Canada, it looked like they wouldn’t race. There were other owners involved and at that point it looked like the way to go was to go to Canada. He would never want to leave Muscle Hill, that is for sure.”
One of Muscle Hill’s biggest fans, 11-year-old Brendan Peck, will accompany his father to the Canadian Trotting Classic on Saturday. The younger Peck will be attired in his “lucky” Hambletonian ensemble.
“Brendan will be wearing his Hambletonian blazer and tie,” Peck said. “He doesn’t want to change anything from the Hambletonian to Canada’s Hambletonian. The dress code is in force. It was only a month ago, so it still fits.”
The elder Peck won’t be wearing the suit he wore on Hambletonian Day.
“I got so many compliments on it that I feel like the woman who can’t be seen in the same dress twice,” Peck said with a laugh. “We have to make a change.”
(Harness Racing Communications)