Plunge Blue Chip, who is arguably one of the most consistent trotting mares on the planet this season, nabbed her richest win of the year thanks to a powerhouse score in the $140,000 TVG Mares Final for trainer/driver Ake Svanstedt.
The five-year-old daughter of Muscle Mass-Dunk The Donato sat second behind Felicityshagwell S through an opening stanza clocked in :27.1, but in the backstretch Svanstedt opted to take matters into his own hands with his talented trotting lass.
Plunge Blue Chip popped out of the pocket and brushed powerfully to the lead, and once she got there she cruised through middle panels of :56.2 and 1:24.2. Svanstedt kicked her into overdrive in the lane, however, and her :27.2 closing speed was enough to earn her the easy triumph over Pat Matters in 1:51.4. When Dovescry took home the show dough.
“The best position for her today was in the front, and she made it,” Svanstedt said. “She came home fast and felt good.”
It was a stakes record-equalling clocking for Plunge Blue Chip, who improved her seasonal record to 4-3-2 from 10 starts with the win, is now a 23-time winner with purse earnings of close to $1.6 million for Ake Svanstedt Inc, Blue Chip Bloodstock Inc and Tomas Andersson.
On a night that celebrated the retirements of Manchego, Bettors Wish and Kissin In the Sand, Svanstedt revealed in a surprise post-race announcement that Plunge Blue Chip has made her final trip around the Big M oval.
“[Plunge Blue Chip] sold as a broodmare and she is going to Anvil and Lace farm in Kentucky,” said Svanstedt.
The TVG Mares Trot was one of a number of major races on a stakes-packed Saturday card at The Meadowlands. Check out the rest of the recaps in the TVG / Fall Final Four News Centre.
(with files from USTA)