DAYTON, OH. – Hello Chipper, a late-blooming three-year-old filly trotter, made it "Three-in-a-row in O-HI-O" on Friday night (November 20) at Hollywood Dayton Raceway by beating a full field of older and more experienced condition harness racing trotters.
Owned, trained and driven by Rocky Stidham, the daughter of Chip Chip Hooray was content to get away seventh through the opening :27.2 panel despite leaving from the coveted rail post position. Buried and shuffled back to eighth at the :56.3 half, Stidham backed out and swung three wide down the backstretch as his talented filly, off at 8-1 odds, got back into contention at the 1:26.4 three-quarter station.
As the demanding first half fractions began to take their toll, Hello Chipper was freshest through the stretch after swinging four-wide for a path of her own.
Runnerup Wattafind (Kayne Kauffman) and show finisher Marquesas (Josh Sutton) were also closing well, but Hello Chipper and Stidham had the most pep in their step to secure the 1:59 victory.
It was the fourth win in five starts, despite a giant jump in class, and boosted the green filly's bankroll over $20,000.
Latenite Rendezvous won the top conditioned distaff pace on the Friday card giving driver Chris Page his second win as part of his 32nd birthday celebration. The five-year-old Dave Panlone mare topped Ohmybelle (Kayne Kauffman) and Platinum Spirit (Dan Noble) in 1:53.
Page, who is nearing his 3,000th career victory, also co-owns the winner with Jerry Daugherty and Roger Hall.
Gregg Keidel