Breeders Crown: Best Chip's journey from also-ran to serious Open Pace threat

When Best Chip puts his nose on the starting gate in Saturday's $662,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace (Race 10), it will mark the culmination of the most remarkable turnaround of a racehorse in the sport of harness racing that we have seen in quite some time. Personally, I don't know if I have ever seen a more impressive accomplishment.

If I would have told you six months ago that Best Chip would line up as one of the favorites in the Breeders Crown Open Pace, you wouldn't have told me I was crazy, you would have asked, "Who?"

That is because six months ago Best Chip was being sent off at 40-1 and finishing ninth in the bottom-level money condition at the Meadowlands. That race was a "Non-Winners of $2,500 in their last five starts" event in which he paced the mile in 1:53 4/5. It was his last start for those connections as after the race Best Chip was purchased by Joe Bongiorno and El Dorado Stables.

"I never thought he would be this kind of horse," said Bongiorno, "I just thought he would be a nice condition horse for us."

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Initially, that is what it looked like they got, as three weeks later in his first start for Bongiorno, Best Chip won easily at that bottom-level condition in 1:50 2/5. One week later, Best Chip moved up in company to a Trackmaster condition of 83.5 or less, where he won again, by four lengths in 1:49 1/5.

Why the sudden improvement?

"We made some rigging adjustments. But every new horse we get, we check blood and have their stomach scoped to see if there is anything holding them back or something that needs to be worked on," said Bongiorno.

What they found were ulcers, something that can be easily treated. Once the issue was resolved, the horse responded almost instantaneously.

"I am a believer that if a horse is not 100 percent healthy, they will not give their all on the racetrack," said Bongiorno.

Soon after that victory, Best Chip began to climb the class ladder. After a narrow defeat to Voukefalas in the tougher "Non-Winners of $15,000 in the last five starts" condition, Best Chip won back-to-back races at that level, including a 1:46 4/5 victory on Meadowlands Pace night. Off that performance, Bongiorno sent Best Chip to Scioto Downs to compete in the Grade 3 $100,000 Send It In Stakes. Despite a tough draw in post position eight and being out the entire mile, Best Chip continued to pace on all the way through the mile, finishing a very respectable third.

On the sport's biggest stage just a few weeks later, Best Chip would pace the fastest mile of the card on Hambletonian Day, winning an Open Pace in 1:46 1/5. Both divisions of the Grade 2 Sam Mckee Memorial would finish more than two seconds slower than Best Chip later that same afternoon.

After that performance, Best Chip was entered in the Canadian Pacing Derby, which was not cheap as it came with a $40,000 supplemental fee. Naturally, a horse that had been struggling in the lower-level condition events at the Meadowlands just four months earlier was not nominated to any stakes events. He finished second in his elimination as the 6-5 favorite.

"He had been battling some sickness going into that elimination, and he was not 100 percent. I knew he should be better for the final and Timmy [Tetrick] drove him great," said Bongiorno.

He was indeed better, winning the $507,600 event in 1:46 4/5, tying the stakes record set by the fastest horse in harness racing history - Bulldog Hanover - just four years earlier.

Best Chip followed up that victory with another win in the Aria Invitational at Yonkers before a narrow defeat in the Dayton Derby where he was forced to set sharp fractions (26, 54 and 1:21 2/5) after making the lead from post position nine.

The 4-year-old son of Heston Blue Chip bred by Winbak Farm was given the following week off and went into the Breeders Crown elimination last Saturday as the close second choice in the wagering. Tim Tetrick chose off to drive multiple Grade 2 stakes winner Ken Hanover, so Bongiorno elected to drive the horse himself.

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"When Tim [Tetrick] picked off, I decided to drive him. But Jason [Bartlett] will drive him in the final," said Bongiorno. "The horse knows me too well, and I don't think I get enough out of him in the stretch. He is a horse that likes change, but I thought his elimination was great, and he was not 100 percent there either. I turned the race into a sprint with the slow fractions [26 3/5, 55 and 1:22 1/5] and just got out-sprinted. I am expecting a big race next week."

How big? Well, the connections had to put up another $72,000 to enter him in the race. That's a large chunk of change, even for a horse that has earned over $500,000 on the year.

"To me, he's the best horse in the division, and I have all the faith in the world in him, so we decided to put the money up," said Bongiorno of Best Chip, who starts from post two as the 3-1 morning line second choice. "He's made it for us and we put our money up because we have faith in our horse. If he's 100 percent healthy and the trip works out, he will always be on the wire."

Regardless of the outcome, Bongirono confirmed that his racing career will continue into 2027. A Breeders Crown win would make him the leading earner this year in terms of the older pacers, net him his 10th win in 18 starts this year and should make him the favorite for divisional honors.

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One thing is certain, when he returns to the racetrack next year, it won't be in a "Non-Winners of $2,500 in the last five starts" condition event. Those days are over!