Miami Valley: Atlanta, Shartin headline $100,000 races on Monday

Millionaires Atlanta and Shartin N, arguably the finest active female trotter and pacer on the planet, are headed to Miami Valley Raceway for a pair of $100,000 Grand Circuit races on Monday afternoon, May 6. The closing day features have been carded as races eight and 10 on the 14-race program which begins at 2:05 p.m.

Atlanta, last year’s Hambletonian winner, will be making her initial 2019 start after an impressive 1:52 3/5 qualifier at The Meadowlands in her first effort for new trainer Ron Burke. Yannick Gingras, who qualified Atlanta without trotting hopples for the first time, will be following the daughter of Chapter Seven—who has earned $1,140,689 in her career—to Ohio for her first seasonal test. The likely odds-on favorite is owned by Crawford Farms, Bradley Grant and Howard Taylor.

A quartet of accomplished challengers will go postward, all inside of Atlanta on the starting gate in the Miami Valley Distaff. Custom Cantab (Peter Wrenn) was a winner of 13 out of 17 starts in 2018, including the Matron Stake at Dover, earning over half-a-million dollars for trainer Chris Beaver. The three others have each won three races already this season. Weslynn Dancer (Matt Kakaley) recently won the Open Trot at Yonkers and Churita (Trace Tetrick) is three-for-three at Hoosier Park to open her year, boosting her career earnings to $924,225. Red Rose Swan (LeWayne Miller) already has three wins and four place finishes in seven trips to post this year, including capturing the prestigious Dr. Dan Farwick Memorial Series championship at Miami Valley.

Shartin N is the defending champion of the Sam ‘Chip’ Noble III Memorial, having captured the 2018 edition in 1:49 3/5—still the fastest mile by a distaff pacer in the six-year history of Miami Valley. Co-owner Tim Tetrick will be in the bike for partners Richard Poillucci and JoAnn Looney-King, the wife of trainer Jim King Jr. The 6-year-old New Zealand bred mare won 19 of 24 races last season, including most every marquee event for the division. The reigning Breeders Crown champion and runnerup to McWicked for Horse Of The Year laurels has won four of five times in the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series at Yonkers, including the $402,600 final to kick off her 2019 campaign. Her lifetime bounty has reached $1,393,853.

Main competition is likely to come from Baron Remy (Chris Page), who captured the $275,000 Ohio Sires Stakes championship at Scioto Downs as well as the Courageous Lady at Northfield Park in her 2018 sophomore season. Shartin N stablemate Bettor Joy N (Trace Tetrick), who finished second in the Blue Chip finale, will also pose a threat; while $918,093 winning Medusa (Gingras) and Always Giggling (Brett Miller) are also formidable foes.

The Noble Memorial pays homage to the memory of one of Ohio’s finest-ever horsemen, Chip Noble from nearby Xenia, who passed away shortly before Miami Valley Raceway opened its doors in 2014.

-edited release (Miami Valley)