Hypnotic Blue Chip wins Saturday night Open at Yonkers

Yonkers, NY — Hypnotic Blue Chip (Brian Sears), he of the $1.7 million career bankroll, rolled from second-over Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway’s $35,000 Open Pace.

Justin Grasso photo

Hypnotic Blue Chip won the Yonkers Open in a time of 1:52.2.

Leaving from post position five in his first local appearance since a leg of the 2010 George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series, Hypnotic Blue Chip was content to spectate early. There was a lot to look at, as 3-5 favorite Great Vintage (George Brennan) had to work to get around pole-sitting Woodstock Hanover (Eric Goodell) after a :26.3 opening quarter-mile.

From there, Eighteen (Mark MacDonald) had designs on the lead, briefly taking over before Great Vintage reclaimed. After a :55.3 intermission, 39-1 rank outsider Bettor Design (Brent Holland) took a shot, with Hypnotic Blue Chip stalking that one.

Great Vintage disposed of the longshot after a 1:23.4 three-quarters and had a 1-1/2 length lead into the lane. Unfortunately for chalk players across the fruited plains, he soon dropped anchor. Hypnotic Blue Chip rolled wide and rolled past, winning by a half-length in 1:52.2. A third-over Casimir Jitterbug (Jason Bartlett) rallied into second, with Annieswesterncard (Yannick Gingras), last early, closing for third. Woodstock Hanover and Eighteen grabbed the remainder, while Great Vintage backpedaled to the back, finishing last among the octet.

Hypnotic Blue Chip, a 6-year-old statebred son of Art Major owned by Fran Azur and trained by Kevin McDermott, returned $8.40 (second choice) for his seventh win in 22 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $112.50, with the triple returning $724.

Owner Azur and trainer McDermott also saw Noble Falcon (Jordan Stratton, $12.20) become harness racing’s newest millionaire ($1,011,251) with a 1:52.4 win in the $28,000 eighth race pace. The 8-year-old Nobleland Sam gelding hit seven figures the old-fashioned way, making his 229th career start.

Saturday’s total handle for the dozen-race dossier was a robust $1,075,326.

— Frank Drucker

Saratoga
Legal Litigator rode his hot streak right into the Open Pace on Saturday night at Saratoga. Following a claim for $15,000 in October, the veteran pacer has gone on a tear for trainer Andy Sardella. Legal Litigator had won three straight races in the $25,000 claimers before moving into Open company. Following a third place in the Saturday feature two weeks ago, the 7-year-old scored a win from off the pace in the Open two last weekend. This week, Legal Litigator (Camluck) had the daunting task of starting from post seven in the $21,000 pacing feature but continued his hot streak, parlaying a second-over trip to victory in 1:53.2. Joe Bongiorno piloted Legal Litigator to his first feature win of the season. White Mountain Top (Stephane Bouchard), a winner of three consecutive Opens heading into Saturday night, was the runner-up this week while Diamond Stick Pin (Dan Cappello, Jr.) earned the show spot. For Legal Litigator, his tenth victory of the season came at odds of 8-1.

Batavia Downs
Le Reina Road took advantage of a patient drive by Dave McNeight III and registered a neck victory over Golden Terror in the featured $7,400 Open II-III Pace at Batavia Downs Saturday night. Le Reina Road and McNeight sat third for the first three-quarters of the mile as Cam Patch (Dan Noble) and Golden Terror (John Cummings, Jr.) each took turns setting the fractions of :27.4, :56.3 and 1:25.4. But as the field of seven turned for home, Le Reina Road ($9.60) was steered three-wide and managed to nail the stubborn but game veteran Golden Terror just before the wire. The also tough Cam Patch was just behind in third. The winning time was 1:55. Le Reina Road, a 7-year-old Pro Bono Best gelding, is owned by Limerick Racing and is trained by Dave McNeight, Jr. It was his tenth win of the season in 39 outings and jacked his earnings up to $62,384.

Lebanon Raceway
Show Me Glory came from off the pace to upset favored War Dancer in the featured event at Lebanon Raceway on Saturday night. The 5-year-old pacer scored for driver Shawn Barker II by three-quarters of a length in a time of 1:57. Show Me Glory paid $17.60 for a $2 winning bet. As the field of nine left the gate, Jack Dailey hustled Sharp Returns to the front to take control with a swift opening quarter in :28. Soon after that point, driver Kayne Kauffman pulled War Dancer out to start his bid for the front. Dailey wanted to retain control of the pace and that resulted in a fierce duel through the middle half-mile with Sharp Returns protecting the lead on the inside and War Dancer stalking on the outside. War Dancer finally forged his way to the front midway down the backstretch the second time as the early pace began to tell on Sharp Returns. Show Me Glory had started from post position nine in the second tier and stayed on the inside while the leaders were battling. He was trailing Sharp Returns in the final turn, but managed to angle out from behind the tiring horse and then took dead aim on the leader. War Dancer wearied in the homestretch while Show Me Glory was full of pace and he won over Andy’s Z Tam with War Dancer holding for third place. Mike Evans trains the winner for owners Mark Nolan and Jason Solomon. It was the eighth win in 32 starts this season for Show Me Glory.

Rosecroft
In what is a seemingly endless series of outstanding driving nights, leading driver Frank Milby just about clinched the 2012 Fall meet leading driver award with another multiple win night. This time it was a four-bagger as he won with Rocknroll Rhapsody in the third, John Carroll in the fifth, Mark’s Quik Pulse in the ninth and JK Cameo in the 11th, giving him 47 wins for the meet. John Wagner is a long way back in second place with 25 wins after recording two Saturday evening. Perhaps the biggest story of the night is the continuing development of Shaker Rei, who faced the best field of distaffers assembled at Rosecroft in many years and scored her third win in a row and fifth in her last seven starts. This week, in a bulky field of nine, driver-trainer John Gazzerro left enough from the five post to get away mid-pack as Raquel and Owhatastunner battled through a brisk opening quarter of :26.4. Owhatastunner won the battle for the lead near the quarter and tried to back the fractions off to the half in :56.4. Shaker Rei aggressively pulled near the three-eighths pole, much earlier than she usually moves, and flushed the cover of OK Amelia as the field approached the half. Owhatastunner and driver Milby held off pursuit down the backside, hitting the three-quarters in 1:26.3 and Scarlet Pandemic launched a huge three-wide move from last to storm into contention but Gazzerro and Shaker Rei managed to avoid getting blindswitched and as the field entered the turn, Gazzerro hit the ignition and Shaker Rei roared past the leaders. OK Amelia developed troubles as she cleared and was taken to the infield for safety reasons. Ok Amelia’s troubles may have made a difference in the “how much” but the issue was not in doubt as Shaker Rei drew clear quickly and was in hand to the wire, winning by more than four lengths. The extremely sharp closer GE’s Alex was last at the head of the lane and swallowed up the remainder of the field for the place money in another sharp effort for trainer Gary Ewing and driver Mark Gray. Raquel showed good late pace to grab the show money after being hard used early for driver Sean Bier and trainer Richard Malone, Sr. Shaker Rei is a 5-year-old daughter of Cheyenne Rei and is co-owned by Deborah Gazzerro with husband John. This win marked her ninth start for the Gazzerros and was her fifth victory along with three place finishes. The final time was a quick 1:55 on a crisp December night and firmly places Shaker Rei into consideration for the Horse of the Meet honors.