With Misty Memory N not entered this week, Protect Blue Chip regained her spot as the morning line favourite in Wednesday's (Oct. 6) $12,300 Fillies and Mares Open I Handicap Pace at Batavia Downs, and she delivered as expected on that forecast with a 1:54.3 win.
Jim Morrill Jr. put Protect Blue Chip right on the engine and pretty much ran the show. After facing no resistance through a respectable :56.2 first half, Protect Blue Chip faced a minor challenge from Vicious Circle (Jim McNeight Jr.) on the backstretch to three-quarters, but easily turned that rival away. Protect Blue Chip continued to pace sharply and held off late charges from the pocket-sitting Stay Beautiful (Kevin Cummings) and the deep-closing Gotta Love Cabot (Shawn McDonough) at the line to win by a length.
It was Protect Blue Chip's ($4.60) ninth win this season for her owners, Vogel & Wags Nags, Team Rice Racing and Adelphi Bloodstock, and it pushed her seasonal earnings to $64,517 on their behalf. Maria Rice trains the mare.
Protect Blue Chip was one of three winners Morrill had during the proceedings on Wednesday.
One race earlier, in the $11,000 Open II Handicap for female pacers, former Borscht Belt regular Dont Chip Me shipped in from Monticello Raceway and turned a pretty rough trip into quite a victory.
Drew Monti took Dont Chip Me off the gate and settled in seventh as a three-wide battle between Peggy J (Jim Morrill Jr.), Wonderful World (Denny Bucceri) and Cinderella Delight (Kevin Cummings) raged up front. Cinderella Delight grabbed the lead at the quarter, but then gave it back to Wonderful World — who was still parked — at the half. Moving up the backside, Peggy J circled three-wide around both to take the lead while Dont Chip Me was three-deep and on the move out of sixth. Monti continued to drive around the last turn, and Dont Chip Me picked up all the pieces down the lane to win by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:55.2.
Dont Chip Me ($14.20) is now a 13-time winner in 2021 and has solid earnings of $64,087 as a result. The four-year-old Hypnotic Blue Chip-Dont Flash Me mare is owned by Rick and Geoff Howles in partnership with trainer John Hallett.
Kevin Cummings and Drew Monti each scored two driving wins during the card.
When live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Friday (Oct. 8), there will be two carryovers available. With no unique single winning ticket purchased in the Pick-5 on Wednesday night, there is now a carryover of $5,963 for that bet in race nine. With the same situation occurring in the Jackpot Pick-6, another carryover of $1,216 will be in place for that wager, which begins in race four. Free full past performance programs for the entire card — that includes these races — can be downloaded at bataviadownsgaming.com under the "live racing" tab, where they are always found for every live night of racing at Batavia Downs.
Post time for the first race is 5 p.m.
(Batavia Downs)