Flex The Muscle wins Dexter Cup

Flex The Muscle powered through the stretch to overtake stablemate Shaq Is Back and win Saturday’s $156,000 Dexter Cup for 3-year-old trotters by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:56.2 at Freehold Raceway.

 

Driven by David Miller, Flex The Muscle is undefeated in two races this year. He won five of 13 starts in 2009 and has earned $179,395 in his career.

 

Flex The Muscle’s victory was the fifth Dexter Cup title for trainer Ray Schnittker, who had three of the eight horses in Saturday’s race. Shaq Is Back, driven by George Brennan, was second and Big Stick Lindy, driven by Schnittker, was sixth.

 

The Dexter Cup is the season’s first major stakes race for 3-year-old trotters and all of Schnittker’s entries are eligible to the $1.5 million Hambletonian, the division’s top prize, on Aug. 7 at the Meadowlands.

 

Shaq Is Back took the lead at the start from post five and Flex The Muscle followed in second from post four. Senor Glide, who started from post seven, challenged Shaq Is Back at the half-mile point, but was unable to get to the front. Flex The Muscle sat behind Shaq Is Back until the field reached the stretch, then passed on the outside for the win.

 

Celebrity Bluechip was third and Senor Glide was fourth.

 

“That was a good mile and he did it very handy,” Miller said about Flex The Muscle. “The horse raced very well. He got a great trip, a two-hole trip, and I never had to move until the head of the stretch. He felt very strong the whole mile and he won very easy.”

 

A strong headwind greeted the field at the top of the stretch, but the conditions did not affect Miller and Flex The Muscle.

 

“I really don’t think the wind was a factor,” Miller said. “I know it was windy, but on a half-mile track it’s not like they’re into a headwind that long.”

 

Flex The Muscle, a son of 1998 Hambletonian winner Muscles Yankee owned by Schnittker, Jerry Silva and Arden Homestead Stable, will race next in the New Jersey Sire Stakes at the Meadowlands. Shaq Is Back and Big Stick Lindy will head to Vernon Downs for the Empire Breeders Classic.

 

“He (Flex The Muscle) was good here last year, so I thought he’d be good,” said Schnittker, referring to Flex The Muscle going two-for-two in Sire Stakes action at Freehold. “He drew inside Shaq (today); reverse the posts and it might have been a different story.

 

“They’ve got shots at being in the Hambo.”

 

Flex The Muscle paid $2.20, $2.20, $2.10 as part of the heavily favored three-horse entry. (HRC)