Veteran trotter Chip Dot Com is in his last year of racing and continues to win for his connections including trainer Matt McDonald, one of many horsemen part of families in a state of shock over the decision by Ontario's government to end the slots-at-racetracks partnership
in 2013.
On Sunday night at Rideau Carleton Raceway, 14-year-old Chip Dot Com notched career win #75 with driver Tomas Dalborg at the lines for trainer McDonald. Of those 75 lifetime wins, 22 have come for 25-year-old trainer McDonald who co-owns the iron horse along with Randy Pitt.
"He's by far my favourite horse in the barn," says McDonald of Chip Dot Com, who has worked his way into the heart of both his owners. McDonald notes that his partner Pitt "visits him everyday and has promised him a home for life" at his farm in Shawville.
“I’ve got a miniature pony, a couple of pintos and the like so he’ll have lots of company and will make a good baby sitter in the paddock,” said Pitt, whose affection for the horse is well-documented. Pitt has claimed 'Chip' back on at least four different occasions over the past two years.
His past trainers Doug Hie and Richard Moreau also considered the Pine Chip-B Cor Peatra son a stable favourite.
"He was always so easy on himself during the week in every way," stated Hie, who isn't at all surprised that he is not only racing but winning races at age 14.
"He was always and continues to be a handful for the two minutes that a race goes on like he knows it's his job."
Among active trotters in North American harness racing, only Scorpion Moon has more wins with 83.
While Chip Dot Com will ease off into the sunset at the end of 2012 having reached the mandatory age of 14, his connections are left with more important questions for their future. McDonald's sister Angie and father Gary were profiled in Monday's Ottawa Citizen as one of the many families impacted by the OLG's ominous announcement last month.
Gary McDonald was a horseman in Newfoundland prior to moving to Ontario in 1998 to commit to racing full-time. He now easily spends 70 hours a week tending to his stable of 18 horses, noting there's no option to supplement his income with a part-time restaurant business like he did back home.
“There is no social life. The only friends you’ve got are in the same business because it demands everything,” McDonald said to the Citizen. “It’s a way of life.”
OLG spokesman Tony Bitonti told the Citizen that the slots-at-racetracks funding agreement “tied [the OLG's] hands” and prevented them from modernizing its business plan. The OLG would prefer a new casino closer to the downtown core, noting that the OLG wants "to be where the customers are."
According to the Citizen, OLG reports state that Rideau Carleton Raceway's slots had an average of 4,900 patrons per day and took in more than $143 million in the 2010/11 fiscal year, contributing to the total slots earnings from all 17 provincial racetracks of $1.73 billion, up from the $1.68 billion in 2009-10 and the $1.71 billion in 2008-09.
I remember THE CHIP away
I remember THE CHIP away back in the past. He was always a good bet and would be a long shot then win again as the favorite. Too bad he's 14.
Talk about owners and trainers; the CHIP met a lot of new people every other race when a new trainer would take him via the claim.
I'm glad he will have some friends in retirement to help pass the time.The fact that he was claimed four times by the same trainer shows that the average horse person does care for all the horses in their barn.
In fact, all the trainers who claimed him are part of the 60,000 people now trying to get a square deal from the Liberals in the Slots at Racetrack dispute we all face now.
Our fingers are crossed.