K D Muscles proved her toughness yesterday at Gunbower when she scooped up a second win in three days, having won at Melton on Friday and then Sunday’s Cohuna Car Sales Bill Poxon Memorial Gunbower Trotters Cup over 2630m.
The Muscle Mass six-year-old mare, who lead throughout in Friday night’s Haras Des Trotteurs Trot, received a penalty from her Melton win and in the Cup started outside of the 20m mark, instead of the inside.
After stepping safely, she worked forward into the box seat before Kate Gath came three-wide at the bell.
After pressuring 2015 winner Dead Cat Bounce at the 1200m, K D Muscles found the lead but copped pressure from Aleppo Sunrise and Tenno Dance.
In Gath’s hands she found some breathing space with a 28.2 third quarter, holding off second-placed Aleppo Sunrise in the straight to win by 6.1m in a 2:03.4 mile rate.
Trainer Andy Gath heaped praise on his “really nice mare”.
“She has a good turn of speed with a really good gait about her,” Gath said. “(She) has come a long way in a short space of time since we’ve had her, and just about every run she has had has been pretty good.
“She’s a really strongly built mare with a really good constitution and recovers well all the time, so she’s a perfect racehorse really”.
New Zealand born K D Muscles, who was bred by Grant Beckett, joined the Gath stable in February this year.
“She came on the market, took a lot of persuading for my owner, Norm Jenkin, to buy as she only had the one win in New Zealand and he was put off by that a bit, but she was up against nice horses,” Gath said. “We were able to purchase her for a pretty reasonable price and she’s earned some nice money since and she has more to offer.”
Gath mentioned her next run is likely to come at Melton on Saturday week in a TM1-M3 mobile in favour of the The Weekly Advertiser Stawell Trotters Cup the following day.
Gath’s other runners at Gunbower were Star Of Dionysis in the Gunbower Family Hotel Gunbower Pacing Cup, who finished last as an odds-on favourite, and Yackandandah, who finished third in the Easy Ride Sulky Gunbower Club Pace.
“At this stage Star Of Dionysis has pulled up all right, there are no alarm bells going off to say there’s something wrong, but maybe the hot weather got to him,” Gath said.
“Yackandandah had to come quite wide and I was happy with him, he’s a good honest horse.”
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