Those of us old enough to recall the emergence of Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) onto the boxing scene can recall how he startled the sports world by proclaiming "I am the greatest!" before and after his boxing matches.
His ego caused untold animosity, but Ali backed up his boasts with his fists. He was the greatest....of his era. Better than Joe Louis or the old-time greats? Hard to say.
Unfortunately, Muscle Hill doesn't have Muhammad Ali's gift of gab. He prefers to make statements with his speed. But surely Muscle Hill also has the right to proclaim "I am the greatest!" if he could only do that Mr. Ed thing and talk.
I've been fortunate enough to see many brilliant trotters since the mid-1960s. Early on, no trotter could match Nevele Pride in my estimation. He was the greatest---of his era. Then Mack Lobell came along and he had such incredible quickness and acceleration that he could also claim to be the greatest.
Now there is Muscle Hill. I don't know if I've ever seen a trotter that can equal him. And the amazing thing is that he's never really been tested---or so it seems.
I wrote last fall that I thought Muscle Hill was the best 2-year-old I'd seen in many, many moons and people chastised me by asking, "Better than Donato? Better than Dewey?"
I said yes. And I stick by that.
I'm mindful of the fact that when Dewey came to Ontario last year at this time, he was upset and that he lost a few more races later in the fall. That could certainly happen to Muscle Hill, too. Yet this colt has shown me a gait and temperament you seldom see paired with such extrordinary speed.
I talked to a man recently who's seen harness racing at the highest levels since the 1950s and he quickly admitted that Muscle Hill was the greatest trotter he'd ever seen. I'm now in that camp.
It's hard to compare horses of different eras just as it's hard to compare boxers of different eras. Certainly a Nevele Pride or Mack Lobell raced far more often than Muscle Hill. They raced heats and they raced on half-mile tracks. They took their lumps in the post position draw. They also raced beyond age three. They were great trotters. But if you look at simply their first two seasons on the track, they can't compare to Muscle Hill.
So if you have a chance to see Muscle Hill race, don't miss it. You've never seen a better trotter.