Undefeated Muscle Hill, Well Said win harness horse awards as top 3-year-olds

Muscle Hill among top harness horse award winners

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Hambletonian and Breeders Crown winner Muscle Hill was voted top 3-year-old trotter and 11 other horses earned Dan Patch awards as divisional champions Monday.

Muscle Hill won all 12 of his starts in 2009 and was a unanimous choice in balloting by the U.S. Harness Writers Association.

The trotter, pacer and horse of the year winners will be announced Feb. 28.

Other division winners were Lucky Chucky (2-year-old male trotter), Sportswriter (2-year-old male pacer), Poof She’s Gone (2-year-old filly trotter), Fancy Filly (2-year-old filly pacer), Broadway Schooner (3-year-old filly trotter), Well Said ( 3-year-old male pacer), Yellow Diamond (3-year-old filly pacer), Lucky Jim (older male trotter), Buck I St Pat (older female trotter), Won The West ( older male pacer) and Southwind Tempo ( older female pacer).

Muscle Hill, named on all 173 ballots, also won the Kentucky Futurity, Canadian Trotting Classic and World Trotting Derby. The colt set a season earnings record for a trotter or pacer with $2.45 million in purses.

Trained by Greg Peck and driven in all but one start by Brian Sears, Muscle Hill equaled the all-age world record for trotting on a mile track when he won the Hambletonian in 1:50.1 on Aug. 8.

Muscle Hill has been retired with a record of 20 wins in 21 starts.