Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Who Would Have Thought!

June 3, 2005

When the son of Magical Mike--Camatross was foaled on April 28, 1997 at Blue Chip Farm in Wallkill, New York, and named Gallo Blue Chip, no one could have anticipated how successful he would have been on the racetrack.

"Gallo was a freak," said Martin Scharf, who purchased the now eight-year-old gelding for $100,000 in his two-year-old season, taking title on August 8, 1999. "His lineage had nothing much before or since. His becoming what he did is like me and my wife having Shaquille O'Neal."

Gallo Blue Chip, the richest pacer of all time, will take his final curtain call with retirement ceremonies on Saturday in the winner's circle at the Meadowlands. The Horse of the Year in 2000, Gallo Blue Chip last reached the winner's circle on February 26 at the Meadowlands and made his last start on March 12, 2005. He is currently retired to trainer Mark Ford's farm in Goshen, New York. Gallo Blue Chip's career record includes 53 wins, 19 seconds and nine thirds from 133 starts and earnings of $4,260,959.

"Gallo Blue Chip was smarter than everyone else," said Scharf, who resides in Lawrence, New York. "When he didn't feel like it at the end of his career, he didn't go. He's big, strong, heavy and healthy right now. A lot of people probably don't know that he was perfectly sound when he stopped. I didn't want to take any chance of him breaking down on the racetrack. It was the right time to stop with him. I was established as an owner but mostly with overnight horses before Gallo Blue Chip. I'd been in the business for 10 years when I got Gallo Blue Chip. He enabled us--myself and Mark Ford--to enter into the stakes game. He opened up a lot of opportunities for us. Certainly Gallo helped the career of Mark Ford and enabled him to get some new owners. Clearly, Gallo opened up some new eyes. [His driver] Danny Dube was helped by Gallo Blue Chip."

At three, Gallo Blue Chip won the Meadowlands Pace, North America Cup and Breeders Crown, setting a single season's earning record of $2.3 million. In addition to the $1.1 million Meadowlands Pace in 2000, Gallo Blue Chip's other career highlights at the Meadowlands included victories in the $300,000 Graduate Final in 2001 and the $121,000
Presidential Final in 2003.

"I appreciate it much more now than when it happened," Scharf added. "Gallo is the kind of horse you should get to own after 35 years in the business, not 10. There's a good chance as an owner I'll never get another one like him. As for his future, we're hoping to get him to the Kentucky Horse Park shortly. He needs to be more docile, and he's getting there, learning to be around people."