Our Lucky Chip, with Trace Tetrick at the lines, returned to his home state and turned in an impressive 1:48.4 victory in the featured $32,000 Invitational Pace at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino on Saturday, October 12.
After racing at the The Red Mile for two starts, Our Lucky Chip returned to Hoosier Park to score his fourth win of the season in a lifetime-best effort. The 1:48.4 victory was just three-fifths of a second off the track record of 1:48.1 that was set by Shark Gesture in 2010.
In a power packed field of 10, Our Lucky Chip was unhurried from the gate and settled along the rail in sixth. Paco Labrook was sent off the wings of the gate by Brad Hanners and Time To Roll and Pete Wrenn followed suit. Paco Labrook reached the top spot through the opening panel in :26.3, but was quickly pressured on the outside by Time To Roll. Paco Labrook continued to dictate fractions down the backside through the half-mile time in :54.4 before yielding the lead to Time To Roll.
As the field rounded the final turn, Time To Roll looked strong on the front through the three-quarter clocking in 1:21.3 before feeling pressure from a first-over bid by St Elmo Hero and Ross Leonard. Our Lucky Chip continued to sit patiently off the pace while most of the damage was being done on the front end.
Tipping three-wide down the stretch, Our Lucky Chip used a :26.1 final panel to power by the field in the stretch and win by two lengths. Eastend Eddie and Sam Widger also staged a big rally late in the lane to get up for the second-place finish while Paco Labrook held on gamely to finish third. As the public’s second choice, Our Lucky Chip returned $7 to his backers at the window.
Trained by Jason Miller, who also co-owns with Bradley Roller, Our Lucky Chip has now increased his lifetime bankroll over $494,000. With the victory, Our Lucky Chip became the fastest son of Indiana’s former leading three-year-old pacing sire, Arts Chip. The four-year-old horse has now won 23 of 41 career outings.
(Hoosier Park)