Muscle Mountain out of the Dominion

Next Friday’s Renwick Farms Dominion Handicap will unfortunately run without Muscle Mountain (Muscle Hill).

Co–trainer Greg Hope says although they’ve allowed the bruised leg to come right, he, his wife Nina and son Ben have decided that the 3200 metre race on Cup Day would be too taxing for the seven year old.

“We felt he didn’t have the preparation to go into a two mile race with only the one run under his belt. We felt it was better to wait for the Free For All on Show Day,” Greg said.

Hope said Muscle Mountain needed five days off after swelling was found in his leg.

“We had to get the heat and swelling out of the leg. We felt he must have given it a bang and it was just bruising. It’s completely fine now, the leg is back to normal. He was never lame at any stage but we just didn’t want to risk training him with the thought that we may create damage.”

Hope said there’s a tinge of disappointment not to have the star trotter in the $400,000 trotting feature.

“We’re thinking with our heads and not our hearts. We’re doing the right thing by the horse and the owners were in full agreement.”

It’s still not known how Muscle Mountain sustained the bruising.

“We got him x-rayed and scanned and nothing came up. We jogged him through until the swelling went down. The leg’s brand new and going forward it’s not going to be a problem.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink