by Charlene Polk, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Charlene Polk

Dover, DE — Much to the pleasure of her connections, trotting mare Early Shirley is living up to her name.

The 5-year-old daughter of Taladega-Paige Thirty Two has been earliest to the wire twice already this year from just six starts at Dover Downs. Longtime horseman Jack Parker, Jr. trains and drives the mare for owners Christopher Yochim and Daryl Glazer, who also bred her.

“The biggest thing is to keep her happy,” Parker said, “and right now she’s really happy.”

The bay mare started the year off right with a 1:57.4 win at Dover on Jan. 5, which was followed by a second and a fifth place finish. On Jan. 27, however, she really captured local attention with an impressive 1:54.1 win against mixed company in a higher level conditioned class.

“She raced good that night,” Parker said. “She deserves a record like that.”

Fotowon photo

Early Shirley has banked $97,099 in her career and has won 13 times in 58 lifetime starts.

That win pushed the mare into Dover’s competitive Open Trot, where she finished sixth (against the likes of JM Vangogh and Joey the Jet JT) in her only start prior to Delaware’s recent rash of snowfall. She returned to the track this past Wednesday and grabbed the final check in Dover’s $26,000 top class for trotters.

“Right now she has to race against the boys and that’s tough,” Parker said.

Parker, who has been training Early Shirley since last fall, says that although he has enjoyed success with the mare her previous trainer, Cliff Green, deserves much of the credit.

“She was a renegade and he turned her into a racehorse,” Parker said. “Now I’m reaping the benefits.”

It was Green who made the discovery that the mare raced best with as little equipment on as possible. While she does wear trotting hopples, Early Shirley remains one of the few trotters who races with no boots.

Under Green’s tutelage in 2008, Early Shirley outgrew making the nearly weekly breaks that plagued her as a youngster and earned $28,870 for the year. She remained a consistent racehorse in 2009 for Green and later Parker, winning five races, the fastest in 1:57.2 at Dover, and earning $43,879.

Parker, who is based at Dovington Training Center in Felton, says the trotter fits his training program well and is very versatile on the track, enabling him to drive her as he sees fit.

“She likes to leave but she’ll sit in the hole nice,” he said.

To keep her happy in between races Parker just makes sure to turn the mare out daily before she jogs.

He says he plans to continue racing Early Shirley at Dover, as she will compete in a late closer there for 4- and 5-year-old Delaware-breds this spring.

“Right now as far as I can see she’s one of the best,” Parker said.