Shartin N wins Blue Chip Matchmaker
April 21, 2018,by Ken Weingartner, USTA Media Relations Manager
Yonkers, NY — An equipment change helped keep Shartin N going straight and propelled her straight to victory in Saturday’s (April 21) $373,000 Blue Chip Matchmaker Series championship for older female pacers at Yonkers Raceway. The mare, who won three preliminary divisions of the Matchmaker prior to going off stride last week, posted a 4-1/2 length victory over Sell A Bit N in 1:52.2. Motu Moonbeam N was third.
Mike Lizzi photo
Shartin N dominates her competition to take the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series final on Saturday evening at Yonkers Raceway.
Shartin N was fourth in the early portion of the race, trailing leader Sell A Bit N, Medusa and Lakeisha Hall. Driver Tim Tetrick moved Shartin N to the front just passed the halfway point and never looked back.
The fractions for the mile were :27.2, :57, and 1:24.
“I just wanted to get away clean,” Tetrick said. “If we make a break, we don’t make any money. She can overcome that because she has a lot of power and she can last on the outside and she is quick. She has every attribute to be a good horse, you just have to keep her calm like she was tonight.”
Trainer Jim King Jr. made several changes to Shartin N prior to Saturday’s race, the most significant, he said, being the addition of a Murphy blind.
“It took right up to tonight to get it done,” King said. “We worked on her a lot at home and made some changes. We came up here and warmed her up a couple trips and made some more changes. We put our heads together and came up with a plan and here we are.
“We did so many different things. The biggest thing was adding the Murphy blind to her to get her to go straight and stop her from being so fussy. I warmed her up a hard trip before we raced to take some of the sting out of her.”
Added Tetrick, “With the Murphy blind it straightened her up and (King) did a great job. He had her on ‘go’ tonight.”
Shartin N is a 5-year-old daughter of Tintin In America out of Bagdarin. She is owned by Richard Poillucci and Jo Ann Looney-King. The mare has won eight of 10 races this year and earned $292,875.
Sent off as the 4-5 favorite from post one, Shartin N paid $3.80 to win.
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New Zealand-bred mare Shartin has proven to be aggressive by nature since arriving in the stable of Jim King late last fall. Described by her former trainer Dean Braun as a bit bossy, Shartin’s eagerness finally got the better of her in the last preliminary leg of the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series April 13 at Yonkers Raceway. Shartin and regular driver Tim Tetrick will start from post one as the 8-5 favorite in tonight’s $373,000 Matchmaker Series final.