BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY,
Monday, March 9, 2020—Post positions have been drawn for the opening rounds of
Yonkers Raceway’s Blue Chip Matchmaker and MGM Borgata Pacing Series.
Friday night
(March 13th) offers three, $40,000 Matchmaker divisions (races 2, 4
and 6) for the premier mares…and it didn’t take long for Shartin N (Tim
Tetrick, post 1) and Caviart Ally (Andrew McCarthy, post 5) to get acquainted,
both drawing into the first grouping.
The two-time
defending series champ---and current Horse of the Year—Shartin N returns to
town for her first visit since winning last season’s finale, included in a
42-for-57, $2.1 million career resume.
The 7-year-old
Down Under daughter of Tintin in America began her season with a 1:50 flat win at
Dover.
‘Ally’ also wasted
no time getting her picture taken in 2020, a 1:49.4 effort across the river.
The 6-year-old daughter of Bettor’s Delight enters with 26 wins in 73 career
starts ($1.8 million).
Friday night’s
second division includes last season’s Matchmaker runner-up, Bettor Joy N
(Tetrick, post 4) and Apple Bottom Jeans (Corey Callahan, post 6). Both ladies
find their way back from Delaware for this series, having finished third (Apple
Bottom Jeans) and fourth (Bettor Joy N), respectively, to Shartin N a week ago.
The final
Matchmaker get-together is led by Seaswift Joy N (Jim Marohn Jr., post 2), a
7-year-old Down Under Bettor’s Delight miss fresh off a 10-win, $263,000 2019
season.
Saturday night
(March 14th) finds four consecutively-contested, $50,000 Borgata
(nee George Morton Levy Memorial) divisions, going as races 5 through 8.
The opening event
of Free-For-All lads features the rock-solid None Bettor A (Tetrick, post 2)
meeting up with Rodeo Rock (Eric Goodell, post 4) and millionaire-in-waiting
Sintra (George Brennan, post 7).
The second
division is led by the series champ of a year ago, Western Fame (Dan Dube, post
7). The 7-year-old son of Western Ideal won seven races and in excess of
$704,000 last season.
Saturday night’s
third Borgata event includes weekly Local Open Handicap standout Jack’s Legend
N (Jason Bartlett, post 4), Trump Nation (Brennan, post 6) and Lyons Steel (Pat
Lachance, post 7).
The fourth and
final grouping goes through the red-hot Backstreet Shadow (Tetrick, post 2),
who eyes a fifth consecutive victory, the first four all down at Dover.
Both the Blue Chip
Matchmaker and Borgata offer five preliminary rounds leading to finals set for
Saturday night, Apr. 18th.
