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Sherry McMackin and At Full Throttle
By Anne Chunko

Sherry McMackin started her showing Quarter Horses as a youngster in the 1960s, but she soon switched to saddleseat and showing Saddlebreds, eventually adding Hackney ponies and Standardbred roadsters to her show string.

Her current roadster is At Full Throttle, a brown gelding sold as yearling for $3,000 at the Garden State mixed sale in 1997. The brown trotter did not show the same talent on the track as his half-brother to Something To Keep (6,1:57s, $109,019).

At Full Throttle, by Giant Victory and out of the Bonefish mare Fishkeeper, did not make it to the races. Instead, he has found his niche in the world of road horses. McMackin bought the gelding from a road horse trainer because of his potential to successfully compete in the show ring in under saddle and driven roadster classes.

Though he has had to learn some new skills, McMackin said he has been cooperative and willing. When she first started riding At Full Throttle without blinkers, the gelding was uncomfortable riding close to the rail of the ring. By doing so, he was handicapping his ability to trot at speed in the ring. McMackin worked with him to overcome his concern, using encouraging taps from a riding crop and extra leg pressure to move him closer to the rail during rides.

To date, she has shown him in Roadster Under Saddle classes, where the Standardbreds are ridden at three speeds of the trot, and Roadster to Bike classes, where the horses are driven hitched to a vehicle similar to a jogcart. His show career is off to a good start with a win in the open Roadster to Bike class at Turfway Park in June, McMakin said.

“He beat a lot of nice, aged, more experienced horses,” she added. “He set a standard of quality for the rest of the year.”

McMackin and her trotter, known by his nickname “Charlie,” continue to work toward their goal of winning a World Champion title in the roadster division at the World’s Championship Horse Show in Louisville, Ky.