by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Williamsport, PA — His conditioner and co-owner claims if there ever was such a thing as the perfect horse, Chasin Racin would be it.

“He’s an ideal horse in every way,” explained George Teague, Jr., who resides in Harrington, Delaware. “He’s real gentle, very friendly and sound. He’s a low-key, pretty much maintenance free horse, who is easy to be around and who does everything real easy.

“I just stuck some hopples and knee boots on him a couple weeks ago,” he continued. “But otherwise he’s been pretty simple.”

Teague and his partner, Elmer Fannin, of Lincoln, Delaware, purchased the 3-year-old son of The Panderosa-Contrapan, who was then named Methpanphetamine, for $25,000 at the 2007 Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg, Pa. A Pennsylvania bred, Chasin Racin started five times as a freshman exclusively in the Keystone State and won twice, but has really come to hand as a sophomore.

Lisa photo

Chasin Racin lowered his mark to 1:51.1 in the $104,400 Matt’s Scooter Final.

The colt, who is undefeated in four starts this year, has earned more than $70,000 of his career bankroll of $100,616 in 2009 and established his lifetime mark of 1:51.1 when he triumphed in the $104,400 Matt’s Scooter Final over the heavily favored Hypnotic Blue Chip on March 21 at the Meadowlands.

“We had some sickness problems with him,” Fannin revealed about the colt’s 2-year-old season shortly after his win in the Matt’s Scooter. “We raced him real easy, brought him along and saved him up for the 3-year-old season.”

Fannin fell in love with the colt’s pedigree and while Teague liked what he saw in the sales ring, he did have one looming fear.

“He’s a big, good-looking dude and certainly looks the part,” he said. “When you walk by him, you almost think he might be too big, but he is well portioned and very athletic for his size, so it didn’t seem to hinder him. The only thing was you don’t know how big they are actually going to get and that was the one real concern I had.”

Chasin Racin’s height and girth have not seemed to inhibit his performance, yet John Campbell, who piloted him in the Matt’s Scooter, thinks the colt still hasn’t found his best stride.

“He’s still a bit green,” Campbell said. “He’s not tired, you just have to keep his attention. When he figures out what it’s all about, I think he’s going to be a pretty tough colt.”

The colt’s connections agree. They have a strong summer schedule planned for Chasin Racin that will commence with the Max C. Hempt Memorial Pace at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs on May 16.

“I’ll race him in the Hempt, which is about five or six weeks away, qualify him or try to find a race for him that leads up to that one,” Teague said. “I have him staked to all the premier races like the Meadowlands Pace, the Jug, the North America Cup and so on and so forth and part of the game plan was to be reassured about spending that kind of money to keep him in those races. He always seemed like he could be that kind of horse.”