After turning in a dazzling 1:50.4 track record performance in last Sunday’s Empire Breeders Classic elimination at Tioga Downs, Hypnotic Blue Chip returned to the
oval earlier today and shaved a fifth of a second off his own record in the $218,925 final.
Hypnotic Blue Chip was third on the outside at the quarter pole for Tim Tetrick, who quickly brushed to the lead as the field paced in front of the grandstand for the first time. Once in charge, the son of Art Major – A Traceofmagic laid down panels of :54.4 and 1:23 en route to the 1:50.3 decision. It was a long distance phone call back to runner-up Redneck Outlaw and third-place finisher Hay Goodlooking.
“I didn’t even pull his earplugs today; he was very nice and it was a good mile today,” said driver Tim Tetrick. “He’s just coming into his own a little bit. He had some bad luck before but Mark [trainer/co-owner Mark Harder] has got his attention now and he has really turned him around. He’s staked up for all the big ones, hopefully he has a big year and makes a lot of money.”
Hypnotic Bluechip, who was sent off as the 1-9 choice in the nine-horse affair, has assembled a 7-2-1 record in his first 11 starts of the 2009 campaign for trainer Mark Harder and his partners - Deena Rachel Frost, Stable 45 and Robert Murphy. The lion’s share of the purse lifted the colt’s lifetime earnings to $256,041.