Harrah's Philadelphia: Shartin readies successfully for upcoming stakes tries

Shartin ($2.20) continued her dominance among distaff pacers on Sunday afternoon (July 7) at Harrah's Philadelphia, winning the $30,000 Great Northeast Open Series feature in an under-wraps 1:49.

After nearly a month on the sidelines following her win in the Roses Are Red at Woodbine Mohawk Park, the 6-year-old daughter of Tintin In America left mildly from the pole to land in third behind Reclamation (Yannick Gingras) and Bettor's Up (Pat Berry) before Tim Tetrick angled her off the pegs to brush into a 27 3/5 first quarter. Shartin cleared with just over a circuit to go and coasted through middle splits of 55 1/5 and 1:22 3/5 with nary a challenger in sight, as the first-over Write Me A Song (Corey Callahan) was only able to work into a joint second before fading on the final turn.

The fading Write Me A Song paved the way for Reclamation to take her shot at Shartin with an eighth of a mile to go, but the champion mare accelerated immediately upon cornering for home. She earned the 35th win of her career while three-quarters of a length better than Reclamation and with plenty in reserve. Bettor's Up was another 4 3/4 lengths back in third, while Write Me A Song faded to fourth.

"That's kind of her M.O.," trainer Jim King Jr. said about Shartin's immediate response at the top of the stretch. "Timmy [Tetrick] always says, 'I should just sit still and let her do the work.' She likes it, that's for sure."

Shartin has now won nine of her 10 starts this season for owners Richard Poillucci, JoAnn Looney-King and Tim Tetrick LLC.

"I felt we would be better off having a place to go instead of having four weeks between races," King continued. "This was the only choice we were left with rather than go to New York, and I would rather not be handicapped with the eight-hole on a half-mile track. It was our choice to come here, and fortunately they had a spot for her."

Shartin N will next race in the Golden Girls at The Meadowlands on Saturday (July 13).

--press release (Harrah's Philadelphia)--