Yonkers: Mares ready to shine in second leg of Blue Chip Matchmaker

Driver Jason Bartlett took the cautious route in the first round of the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series at Yonkers Raceway, but the leading pilot enters Friday's second round with renewed confidence in Racine Bell. An 11-time winner in 2021, Racine Bell drew post seven in the first of four consecutive $40,000 divisions and will be in search of her second win of the season.

"She hadn't finished that strongly in her races leading up to the Matchmaker," Bartlett said on Monday from the Yonkers paddock. "I didn't want to rough her up in the first round."

Racine Bell managed to finish, just a nose behind Dragon Roll in the first round thanks to some uncommon racing luck at Yonkers.

"I stayed in with her, but I kind of knew the horse sitting the pocket would bear out in the stretch," Bartlett said of the March 18 first leg division drive. "She really exploded finishing."

Indeed, Racine Bell, a 5-year-old by So Surreal, appears to have shown the finishing power that helped improve Bartlett's outlook for the series and beyond.

"She can blast off at the start," Bartlett said with an eye on this week's action given the outside draw for the David Dewhurst-trained mare.

Going up against Racine Bell in the first division (race four) is last year's Jugette winner Scarlett Hanover. One of just two fillies to take down eventual 2021 Horse of the Year Test Of Faith, Scarlett Hanover made her 4-year-old debut last week and was an unlucky fifth-place finisher for the Ron Burke stable with Yannick Gingras in the bike. A daughter of Bettor's Delight, Scarlett Hanover landed the pole position for Friday's second round and will likely need to cover less ground than she did a week ago when she was parked nearly five-eighths of a mile without cover.

Friday's second Blue Chip-Matchmaker division (race five) pits three first-round winners against each other, with the aforementioned Dragon Roll (post one) drawing inside Easy To Please (post four) and Drama Act (post six). The Ricky Bucci-trained Dragon Roll has been a force over the winter at Yonkers and now moves into the next season already with four wins to her credit. Todd McCarthy gained the drive last week and managed to hold off rivals on all sides to score in 1:52 1/5 by a diminishing nose.

Easy To Please may have been a surprise to some winning a division as a 4-year-old, but driver Jordan Stratton was not among those.

"She's just a real nice mare," said Stratton. "We're not going to do anything to rough her up against the older mares."

Stratton said that as a 2-year-old Easy To Please was anything but easy to get around a half-mile track but now the daughter of Roll With Joe is a model citizen handling the Yonkers oval, with her best game likely to be tracking down the competition.

"I don't want to see her getting roughed up on the front," said Stratton.

Drama Act may well have been the most impressive winner in round one, as the Ron Burke-trained daughter of Well Said cranked out an effortless 1:52 2/5 mile, sprinting her final quarter in 27 seconds without a horse in clear view. George Brennan guided Drama Act through a 55 second final half.

Friday's third Blue Chip Matchmaker division (race six) figures to see Lit De Rose (post three) as one of the likely favorites. With $87,610 made this year, the 7-year-old mare has banked more than the total of her six rivals in this division in 2022. Pat Lachance drives and trains the 29-time lifetime winner.

Siesta Beach showed solid pace finishing while fourth in her first-round performance, and the 6-year-old should benefit from the improved draw, starting from post two. A nine-time winner in 2021, Siesta Beach has been a consistent Open performer on the circuit and looks for her first win in 2022 in just her third start.

Last year's Blue Chip-Matchmaker champion Machnhope was dismissed at 32-1 in the opening leg having drawn outside against a talented group. The Noel Daley trainee drew post three in the fourth division on Friday (race seven) and should get much more support at the windows. Machnhope will have Andrew McCarthy in the bike.

Mystical Carrie surprised pace-setter Karma Seelster on the wire to capture a division last week, and the Erv Miller-trained mare looks to repeat from the pole position.

Karma Seelster appeared to be cruising to victory as the 2-5 favorite in last week's first round, but the daughter of Sportswriter failed in the final sprint. A consistent force in the Mares Open at Yonkers, Karma Seelster goes from post five in the field of six.

Racing kicks off at 6:55 p.m. for the first of 12 races on Friday.