Muscle Hill confirmed himself as one of the greatest young trotters in history with a crushing win in yesterday's Hambletonian at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
The US$1.5 million event is rated by many as the most prestigious harness race in the world but yesterday it was turned into a
procession.
Muscle Hill justified his red hot favouritism by leading all the way from barrier one for his 13th victory on end.
His only defeat came in his first race start as a juvenile last season.
While horses winning the Hambletonian by six lengths are rare enough what really stunned the huge crowd was the mile time of 1:50.2.
That smashed the race record by a full second and equalled the all-comers' world trotting race record.
Muscle Hill is by former champion trotter Muscles Yankee, who has made a huge impact in Australasia with a relatively small number of representatives in recent years.
Muscle Hill's win was the highlight of harness racing's biggest day, which also had a Kiwi connection with two former New Zealand-trained pacers, Anvilanunoit and Montecito winning.
The latter, formerly trained by Steven Reid at Pukekohe, won a US$50,000 race in 1:49.4 for the mile.
Later in the programme Shadow Play screamed around the big track in 1:47.8 for the mile to down leading pacer Mister Big in the US$330,000 US Pacing Championship.
* Canterbury pacer Smiling Shard is set to be a major player in the Australasian Breeders Crown series after a superb Australian debut on Friday night.
Certain to be named New Zealand juvenile pacer of the year, Smiling Shard finished second in a A$15,000 event at Tabcorp Park in Melton, Victoria. Smiling Shard had to sit parked for the majority of the race outside Queensland star Lanercost, also a graduate of the New Zealand sales.
The pair raced over their last 800m in a sizzling 55.4 seconds and while beaten by a half length, Smiling Shard was as impressive as the winner.
Driving star Dexter Dunn will remain in Melbourne for the majority of this week to prepare Smiling Shard, who is trained by his boss Cran Dalgety, for his semifinal of the Breeders Crown this Friday.
Smiling Shard has to finish in the first five on Friday to earn a spot in the A$320,000 final on August 23.
New Zealand has its strongest-ever contingent at the Breeders Crown series, with Tintin In America, Flying Pocketlands, Imagine Me among others to contest semifinals on Friday night.
Pukekohe trotter Tuhimata Glass, one of the favourites for the rich 2-year-old trotting division, completes his build-up in a A$5000 race at Ballarat at 3.20pm today with co-owner Hayden Cullen doing the driving.
Tuhimata Glass and Canterbury trotter Landora's Pearl have already qualified for the 2-year-old trotting final, which does not require semi-finals.
Muscle Hill confirmed himself as one of the greatest young trotters in history with a crushing win in yesterday's Hambletonian at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
The US$1.5 million event is rated by many as the most prestigious harness race in the world but yesterday it was turned into a
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