INTER DOMINION 2015

Leading harness racing trainer Gary Hall has identified outstanding American performer Heston Blue Chip as the pacer he wants to continue his dominance in the rich Inter Dominion Championship.
Hall and his son, Gary, have enjoyed a high rate of success in the great race in recent years, winning with champion Im Themightyquinn in Auckland in 2011, Perth 2012 and Sydney in 2013.
They also finished a nose second to Jofess with the Falcon Strike in 2004.
Heston Blue Chip has won 36 races and has earned in excess of $1.7million, with Hall in negotiations with the stallion’s owner, New York businessman Ken Jacobs.
“I’m hoping to be able to purchase Heston Blue Chip at a reasonable price and discussions are going along very well,” Hall declared.
Im Themightyquinn is now a 10-year-old and in the twilight of a magnificent career, with Hall looking for a ready-made replacement.
The premier horseman is confident Machtu will continue to improve and develop into a serious Inter Dominion contender when the event is run at Gloucester Park for three years, beginning in November 2015.
The Final each year will offer a purse of $1.3 million – the richest pacers’ event in the world.
But he is extremely keen to buy a top-flight American pacer on behalf of several stable clients to give him a great chance to add to his Championship successes.
Heston Blue Chip is by American Ideal and is the first foal from Shot Togo Bluechip. He has proved a great bargain for Jacobs, who liked the five-year-old’s breeding and bought him for just $30,000 at the 2010 standardbred sales.
Heston Blue Chip was a good winner as a two-year-old before a dominant season in 2012 when he won at 14 of his 18 starts, set four track records and won the prestigious Dan Patch award as the Three-Year-Old Colt of the Year in America.
Trained by Linda Toscano, Heston Blue Chip has been driven to most of his victories by Tim Tetrick, who summed up the stallion by saying: “I can’t say enough good things about this horse. He is such a pleasure to drive; it’s like driving a Cadillac out there.”
A versatile campaigner, Heston Blue Chip’s chief asset is his dazzling early speed, which has seen him set the pace in most of his wins at Yonkers, Meadowlands, Vernon Downs, Woodbine, Harrah’s Philadelphia, Saratoga Raceway and Dover Downs.
Heston Blue Chip, whose stable name is Moses, set an all-age track record of 1.48 over a mile in December 2012.
If Hall is able to clinch the deal, Heston Blue Chip will become only the fifth American pacer to race at Gloucester Park, joining Crouch, Tibet, Ultra jet and Mr Feelgood.