Final legs of Levy, Matchmaker highlight Grand Circuit weekend

This Week: Blue Chip Matchmaker and George Morton Levy series fifth legs, Yonkers Raceway, Yonkers, N.Y.

Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit at Yonkers this week features three $40,000 divisions on Friday (April 12) in the fifth and final round of the Blue Chip Matchmaker series for open pacing mares. The Saturday (April 13) card at Yonkers will see four $50,000 divisions in the fifth and final round of the George Morton Levy series for open pacers. Complete entries for the races can be found by clicking on this link.

Last time: Yonkers Raceway’s Blue Chip Matchmaker saw its fourth preliminary round conducted over Friday night’s (April 5) ‘sloppy’ surface. Three $40,000 groupings of Free-For-All mares went at it, down one from a week ago.

Shartin N was a 1:54.2 winner on April 5. Katy Gazzini photo.

Shartin N, the defending series champ (Tim Tetrick, $2.20) was (from post four) the lone leaver, with a highly-predictable result (:28.3, :57.4, 1:26.2, 1:54.2). The margin was a length. Second went to a pole-protecting Kaitlyn N (Matt Kakaley), while Medusa (Jason Bartlett) sat third and wound up there. Sell A Bit N (Jordan Stratton) and a first-up Freakonomics (Scott Zeron) settled for the smallest envelopes. Second choice Seaswift Joy N (Jim Marohn Jr.) could not get involved from behind the eight-ball.

For Shartin N, a 6-year-old Tintin In America miss co-owned by her driver, Richard Poillucci and Jo Ann Looney-King and trained by Jim King Jr., it was her third win in four seasonal/series starts.

Yonkers Raceway Saturday night (April 6) hosted the next-to-last preliminary get-together of the George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series. Four $50,000 Free-For All events were carded, one fewer than a week ago.

Odds-on Western Fame (Dan Dube, $2.40) restored some normal to the gathering with an as-expected romp (:27.2, :56, 1:23.4, 1:50.4). From post three, the series points leader drilled his foes by 5-1/2 lengths, a personal ’19 best and matching Lyons Steel for the fastest Westchester mile of the Levy and season. Gokudo Hanover (George Brennan) was a very loosely-pocketed second, with Rock The Nite (Mark MacDonald), Somewhere In L A (Bartlett) and Ballerat Boomerang (Joe Bongiorno) earning the minor moolah.

Western Fame, a 6-year-old son of Western Ideal owned by Go Fast Stable, B&I Stables, Stephen Klunowski and Gilbert Short and trained by Rene Allard, is now three-for-five this season (three-for-four in Levy).

Complete recaps of the weekend races are available at the Grand Circuit website.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2019, the Grand Circuit leaders in three categories (driver, trainer and owner) will once again be tracked on a points system (20-10-5 for the top three finishers in divisions/finals and 10-5-2 for the top three finishers in eliminations/legs). Winbak Farms is the sponsor for the 2019 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders following this past weekend at Yonkers:

Drivers: 1. Tim Tetrick – 112; 2. George Brennan – 83; 3. Jason Bartlett – 67; 4. Scott Zeron – 56; 5. Matt Kakaley – 46.

Trainers: 1. Jim King Jr. – 77; 2. Rene Allard – 42; 3. Ron Burke – 39; 4t. Ross Croghan – 34; 4t. Andrew Harris – 34.

Owners: 1. D R Van Witzenburg – 30; 2. Robert Cooper Stables – 28.3; 3. Jo Ann Looney-King – 27.5; 4t. J L Benson Stables – 25; 4t. Richard Poillucci – 25.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will continue with the finals and consolations of the Blue Chip Matchmaker and George Morton Levy on April 20.

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