Who is the favorite to win the Hambletonian at Meadowlands racetrack?”
Just like the previous two years, a favorite would carry the day. Saturday’s Hambletonian at the Meadowlands capped a fistful of wins for driver Brian Sears. One of harness racing’s best, the “White Knight” captured his first ever Hambletonian and drove a total of five winners on the afternoon. It was everyone’s pick, the pre-race favorite of the 84th Hambletonian, Muscle Hill, who cruised to victory. Muscle Hill has been near unstoppable recently, continuing a stretch of more than a month without a loss. The win holds a recent trend in the race of pre-race favorites winning as Deweycheatumnhowe held off a stiff late push to secure Ray Schnittker his first ever Hambletonian in 2008 and the year before it was Donato Hanover walking into to the winner’s circle. Now, it was driver Brian Sears who captured this year’s Hamlbetonian, capping off a scintillating summer for the standard bred. The race started as it would finish. Holding the inside spot, it was Muscle Hill who led at the first
Muscle Hill remains the overwhelming favorite heading into the Hambletonian, but there is another colt that is gaining momentum as a top contender for the $1.5 million prize. Like Muscle Hill, Federal Flex enters Saturday’s Hambletonian eliminations with an undefeated record this season. Though most of his accomplishments have come north of the border, Federal Flex made a strong statement when he romped to a 1:53.3 victory in his $185,250 Stanley Dancer Memorial division on July 17 at the Meadowlands. He bids for his fourth straight win in the second of the evening’s three $70,000 Hambletonian eliminations for driver Jody Jamieson and trainer Jeff Gillis. The top three finishers in each elim, plus the fourth-place finisher with the highest career earnings, will advance to the $1.5 million Hambletonian Final on Saturday, August 8. Post time for the card, which also features four elimination dashes for the Hambletonian Oaks for fillies, is 7 p.m. “This is a high quality individual who ha
“Operation Hambletonian” is how Newtown resident and horse trainer Greg Peck refers to the process of getting Muscle Hill ready for today’s $1.5-million trotting classic at the Meadowlands Racetrack. Muscle Hill is the overwhelming 3-5 morning-line favorite to win the Hambletonian, harness racing’s biggest event of the year. Peck’s vision of Muscle Hill’s career encompasses every step from colt to stallion. This military approach comes from his other day job as a corporate media consultant. Peck has lived in Newtown since 1992 with his wife, Nancy and their two sons, Sean, 15 and Brendan, 11. Peck grew up in the coal-mining town of Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, population 9,000. His father ran a grocery business while his grandfather delivered the orders with a horse and wagon. During winters they raced their horses on an ice track over a frozen lake.
