By Michael Guerin
Ben Hope says Muscle Mountain is ready to give punters what they want tonight and the way they want it too.
The big boy returns after six weeks away from the races in the $40,000 Continental Summer Cup Trot at Addington, a race he has won three times before.
There is no doubting Muscle Mountain is the best horse in tonight’s 1980m mobile as the winner of 39 races and over $1.1 million in stakes so the question punters taking the odds-on want to know is: is he ready to win?
Hope, who co-trains and drives Muscle Mountain, says yes.
“He was racing well when we eased up in him in December and we are confident he is forward enough to win without a trial,” he says.
Hope and his father/training partner Greg have the perfect measuring stick too as they also train tonight’s third favourite Midnight Dash, who was a last start winner at Omakau.
“He is racing really well and they actually do all their work together,” says Hope.
“So while Dash can win Muscle Mountain is usually too fast for him and their work together suggests that will be the case again.”
While those words will be reassuring, most punters who take $1.85 for horses to win like bad luck to be taken out of play and Hope says he plans to do that tonight.
“I think he has the most gate speed in the race and I plan to use it and I’d be surprised if he can’t lead.”
While the best version of Muscle Mountain would win tonight’s big trot the two pacing features look anything but clear cut.
The $60,000 Garrards Mares Championship brings together some of the better fillies from last season’s three-year-old crop against established older names like Francent and Esmeralda.
Francent (R10, No.9) was slightly lucky to win the Queen Of Hearts at Alexandra Park last start, the race Captains Mistress lost in dramatic circumstances when driver Nathan Williamson crashed to the track because of a sulky malfunction.
But that drama aside Francent has developed into a very good mare as has Esmeralda and with even luck they can beat the young pretenders but there is plenty of talent in the four-year-olds led by Beside Me.
The latter was an impressive winner in a weaker field last Friday but her talent has never been in question and if she launches early and gets to the front she will take running down.
There is still plenty to like about the chances of Winelight, Debbie Lincoln and General Jen in what is a beauty of a race.
The Breckon Farms Check Out Our Draft Pace is much lighter on numbers but just as even with any one of the six starters a winning chance.
Pinseeker was brilliant winning at Omakau two starts ago and beaten in a very fast time on the tricky Nelson track last start so deserves favouritism but Hadron Collider beat him fair and square that day so can do so again.
The best horse in the race, when he wants to be, is Chase A Dream who is now trained by the Dunns but is incredibly hard to predict.
