Yonkers: Familiar and favored faces triumph in fourth round of Blue Chip Matchmaker Series

On a soggy and sloppy Friday night at Yonkers Raceway, all three favorites delivered victories in the fourth preliminary round of the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for pacing mares.

Shartin (Tim Tetrick) improved to three-for-four in the series and won the quickest of the three $40,000 splits in 1:54 2/5. Shartin, a New Zealand import, went to the lead from post four, clicked off fractions of 28 3/5, 57 4/5, and 1:26 2/5, and won by a comfortable length over pocket-sitter Kaitlyn (Matt Kakaley). Medusa (Jason Bartlett) followed in the three-hole and held third.

A 6-year-old daughter of Tintin In America trained by Jim King Jr. for owners Tetrick, Richard Poillucci, and Jo Ann Looney-King, Shartin scored her 29th career victory, and she has now earned $1,192,553. The 1-9 favorite, Shartin paid $2.20 to win.

Bettor Joy (Tetrick), Shartin's stablemate who also races for the same ownership group, had a little more traffic to navigate one section prior, but was able to do so successfully, halting the clock in 1:54 3/5.

She dropped in fifth from post seven as Delightfulmemphis (Bartlett) and Ideal Lifestyle (George Brennan) worked a give-and-go passing the 28 3/5 opening quarter. Ideal Lifestyle would continue to lead to the 57 3/5 half, but a first-over Betterb Chevron (Jordan Stratton) got a narrow advantage on the outside at the 1:25 2/5 three-quarters. While all that was going on up front, Tetrick worked out a third-over trip for Bettor Joy, but she still had work to do when she went three-wide on the final turn.

Once she was fed the clear racetrack, the New Zealand-bred Bettor Joy paced up into contention, then kicked it into another gear the others couldn't match in the lane, prevailing by a length and a quarter in 1:54 3/5. Betterb Chevron was a solid second after the first-over grind, with Camera Lady (Kakaley) rushing from seventh and last to third in the final quarter.

The victorious 5-year-old daughter of Bettor's Delight is now a 14-time winner, and she shows $300,484 in earnings. The even-money favorite, she returned $4.10 to win.

Back in the opening flight of the night, it was Dont Think Twice (Bartlett) taking a 1:55 win. She looped Feelin Red Hot (Brennan) for the top at the 28 1/5 opening quarter, backed down the middle-half to 58 and 1:26 3/5, and lasted in the lane over the pocket-sitter, scoring by a neck. Twinkle (Scott Zeron) took third.

Trainer Andrew Harris also co-owns Dont Think Twice, a 6-year-old Australian-bred daughter of Armbro Operative, with partners Arrhythmic LLC., Pollack Racing LLC., and Jeff Cullipher. She grabbed career win number 21, and she has now put away $297,120. The 3-5 favorite, she paid $3.30 to win.