Muscles Marinara wins in 1:52.1

Muscles Marinara got up in the final strides to win the $44,000 Father Foley Memorial on Wednesday night at the Meadowlands, trotting to a 1:52.1 score over Ripped.  Ken Rucker trains the winner.

Muscles Marinara, with driver Brian Sears, followed Ripped as he moved up to challenge the pacesetter Swan Image midway down the backstretch. Ripped cleared the lead as a weary Swan Image began to bear in towards the pylons, but there was just enough stretch left for Muscles Marina to catch him at the wire. The mile was clocked in 1:52.1.

“Dave [Miller and Swan Image] kind of figured his horse was the best and wanted to keep the front,” Sears noted, “so we rolled along with a pretty good pace and I never had to move my horse until we were coming around the turn. Then I was able to follow John [Campbell] halfway down the stretch and get by in the last step. It was a pretty good mile. He hasn’t trotted in 1:52 here on a consistent basis in a long time, but he put out a good effort tonight and it worked out. He’s a nice old horse. I don’t think he can rough it on the front anymore, but he can follow along just about any clip they want to go.”

Muscles Marinara has won 23 of 106 starts and $910,252 lifetime. The Gandolfo Stables of Saddle River, NJ, and Lenny Zelin of Franklin Lakes, NJ, own the 8-year-old gelding. (Meadowlands)

« Back