Hypnotic Blue Chip was the sales topper on Monday at the Tattersalls January Select Mixed Sale

at the Meadowlands.

Hypnotic Blue Chip, a four-year-old son of Art Major, was purchased for $325,000 by Fran Azur. The horse won 11 of 29 races in 2009 and earned $527,108. His victories included the Empire Breeders Classic and Junior Trendsetter Series. He was second in the Oliver Wendell Holmes and New York Sire Stakes championship.

Azur also purchased Mcgibson, a four-year-old female pacer, for $135,000. A multiple-stakes winner, Mcgibson has seven victories in 20 races and $181,608 in her career.

“I only like racehorses,” Azur said. “I don’t like yearlings, I don’t like broodmares, I don’t like stallions. For my business, I like raceway horses. I like the four-year-olds because it gives the guys who are not like me a chance to buy their yearlings and take their best shot with two- and three-year-olds and then cash out. I’m on the other end of that.

“I think (Hypnotic Blue Chip) has got good potential for what we look for - good raceway horses. We’ll see what we can get out of him. Kevin (trainer Kevin McDermott) and I will talk and we’ll see what we do with him.”

Trotting mares Raising Rachel and Honorable Daughter were the top sellers through the early portion of the sale. Raising Rachel was purchased by Arlene and Jules Siegel’s Fashion Farms for $255,000 while Honorable Daughter, the sport’s two-year-old filly trotting champion in 2008, went to Bill Weaver’s Valley High Stable for $185,000.

A daughter of Yankee Glide, Raising Rachel won 10 of 20 career races and earned $627,856. Last season as a three-year-old, she won a division of the Casual Breeze Stakes and was second in the Hambletonian Oaks and Elegantimage. Her defeat in the Oaks was by just a nose to Broadway Schooner, who is owned by the Siegels.

As a two-year-old, Raising Rachel won seven of eight starts, including a division of the Champlain. Her career mark is 1:54.1 and she is a half sister to multiple Ontario Sire Stakes division winner Reach Higher. Raising Rachel’s mother, Raising The Bar, is a half sister to millionaire mare Casual Breeze.

“She’s got a good family and very good race performances,” said Dave Elwell, Fashion Farms’ manager. “You need to have this kind to compete.”

Honorable Daughter, who is a daughter of Malabar Man, won 11 of 22 career races and earned $979,236. As a two-year-old, she won nine of 11 starts, including the Breeders Crown, Merrie Annabelle and Matron Stakes. She set the World Record for two-year-old filly trotters on a five-eighths-mile track with a 1:55.1 clocking at Dover Downs.

Last season, she won the Empire Breeders Classic, but was slowed by bruised heels.

“I like what the (catalogue) page will look like when she has a baby,” Weaver said when asked what he most liked about Honorable Daughter.

“She’s good sized; a good looking mare,” he added. “She did everything they asked her to do as a two-year-old. She had two-year-old speed. That’s what people are looking for these days and she could cross with a lot of sires.”

Consignor Preferred Equine Inc. purchased four-year-old male pacer Carnivore for $180,000 while Thomas Cancelliere bought five-year-old male pacer Meant To Be Me for $175,000.

Carnivore has won eight of 30 lifetime races and earned $542,588 while Meant To Be Me has won 11 of 52 career starts and banked $453,208.

Mark Ford bought four-year-old male pacer Doubleshotascotch for $160,000. Doubleshotascotch won six of 21 races last season and earned $306,488. He was the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion and finished second in a division of the Tattersalls Pace.

“We probably won’t do a whole lot with him for a few months and just try to make him into a horse to race at Yonkers,” Ford said. “Racehorses are in such demand; I thought he would bring a little more. He’s a nice quality horse and those are hard to find.”

The four-year-old trotter Keystone Activator was purchased for $150,000 by Covenant Standardbreds. Keystone Activator won eight of 23 races last season, including a division of the Old Oaken Bucket, and earned $227,867.

Also selling for at least $100,000 were four-year-old pacing gelding Real Image ($115,000 to Larry Baron), four-year-old pacer Fireintheshark ($110,000 to Burke Racing) and three-year-old colt pacer Sharks Legacy ($100,000 to Tom Fanning).

For sale results, click here.

This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S.
Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.