Canadian Trotting Classic set for Saturday

He already has $2.2 million in his bankroll, and this Saturday evening at Mohawk, Muscle Hill is in a perfect position to add another half-million to the pot. He’ll be going postward as the prohibitive favorite in the $1 million Canadian Trotting Classic, riding a wave of 16 consecutive wins.

 

"They’re all underdogs in this race," acknowledged Jimmy Takter, the trainer of Trotting Classic finalist Judge Joe, who finished second behind elim winner Southern Rocketop.

 

Muscle Hill won the other elim, which provided his connections with the opportunity to choose their post position for the lucrative final. Muscle Hill’s regular driver, Brian Sears, selected the four hole, which will give the veteran linesman lots of options. But as Muscle Hill’s trainer, Greg Peck, has pointed out, the CTC is still a horse race and anything could happen. Nine other colts will be starting alongside Muscle Hill, each of them a talented trotter in his own right. Among them is Judge Joe, who captured the second leg of the Trotting Triple Crown, the Yonkers Trot, on Aug. 29, when Muscle Hill’s connections routed him instead to the World Trotting Derby.

 

Judge Joe defeated fellow CTC starter Neighsay Hanover by nearly four lengths at Yonkers, and earlier in the season enjoyed a five-race win streak in New York Sires Stakes action, culminating in a victory in the $151,670 Zweig Memorial at Tioga Downs in July.

 

While he has yet to prevail against Muscle Hill, Judge Joe (by Credit Winner out of the Garland Lobell mare, Judge Judy) has bankrolled nearly $900,000 lifetime and can boast a record of 14 wins, seven seconds, and a third in 23 starts. In fact, he has been worse than third only once in his career, in the 2009 Hambletonian (where he finished seventh). What’s more, Judge Joe has drawn decently –he’ll leave from post five, just outside of Muscle Hill -- and will have the advantage of legendary pilot, John Campbell, in the bike. Campbell, in fact, selected Judge Joe over his brother Jim’s entry, Tom Cango.

 

"John (Campbell) was quite impressed with the horse and he has high expectations for him," said Takter of his driver's thoughts about Judge Joe. "He got a little trapped in his elimination (where he finished second to Southern Rocketop) but he had good power in the lane. He drew a good post--to me five is the best post to have at Mohawk--so we’ll see."

 

With the colt’s good gate speed, Takter is predicting that Judge Joe may be the one the field chases through the early fractions. "It’s a good field and it will be an interesting race, anyway," he said.

 

The Canadian Trotting Classic is carded as race 7, post time 9:44 p.m. (WEG)