Yonkers: Tetrick taking a dual role as owner and driver in Matchmaker

Driver Tim Tetrick returns to the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series on Friday night with a different outlook. Last year he captured the final with eventual divisional champion Shartin N. This year she returns as the favorite but Tetrick returns with a bigger piece of the action to shoot for. The sport’s leading catch-driver will drive three mares on Friday night for trainer Jim King Jr. in the Matchmaker and he owns a piece of each one of them.

What’s it going to be like for Tetrick?

“There’s going to be more pressure on me that’s for sure,” Tetrick said regarding the extra stake. Yet Tetrick could hardly be more focused by the changes in ownership. He certainly has enough reason to be confident, especially as he’s had some roll in preparations for stakes action. “Shartin N is just as good as she was last year,” Tetrick said with some confidence. “I kind of wish we were able to get a race into her before the Matchmaker but that didn’t work out. They wouldn’t let her race at Dover and she could have raced at The Meadowlands but that was the weekend of the Banquet in Florida.”

Shartin N makes her seasonal debut in the fifth of five Matchmaker divisions on Friday night having landed post two and Tetrick expects there to be plenty of talent in this series. “There’s some good horses in that series and you never know how it’s going to go,” said Tetrick, “But I won’t be in a hurry to put her on the lead. It’s a long season and she’s going to have plenty of money to race for.”

While Shartin N was a dominant force throughout North America, trainer King Jr. was hitting on all cylinders at Yonkers with Newborn Sassy. The now 6-year-old earned a shade under $290K primarily at Yonkers, and Tetrick likes her potential for this series. “She’s a notch below Shartin N, but she’s a real sweetheart. She gets around this track very well and she’s even won out of the eight-hole here a couple of times, and that’s not easy to do,” Tetrick said. Newborn Sassy was 17 times first or second in 36 starts last year. She’ll be on the outside once again in the first $40,000 Matchmaker division on Friday carded as race five.

The new kid on the block for the King-Tetrick combo is Bettor Joy N, a recent imported daughter of Bettor’s Delight that prepped with a few races at Dover Downs in advance of the Matchmaker. “So far she’s been really good,” said Tetrick. “That first race it was like eight-degrees when she raced and she came home in 27. She came back more than three weeks later and was very good.” Bettor Joy N came from well off the pace to score in 1:51 3/5 on February 27 at Dover Downs. Bettor Joy N drew post two in the second of the five Matchmaker divisions carded as race six. She will meet other noted imports in this division including the razor sharp Delightfulmemphis N (post 4), a winner four times this winter in seven starts for trainer Nifty Norman.

Tetrick will be spending his weekend driving at Yonkers with the George Morton Levy series commencing Saturday night. With six $50,000 divisions on tap, the driver was focused on one particular horse. “I’m looking forward to racing Duplicated N in the series,” Tetrick said. “He was really strong winning in 49 and change in his last start.”

Trainer King had been quite excited when Duplicated N arrived in his stable last season, believing he was an elite-level pacer. “I think the best part of the relationship with these horses is Richard Poillucci,” said Tetrick. “He picks the horses out and then he gives Jim the time it takes to get them where they need to be. It’s that patience that’s really helped these horses develop.”

Tetrick liked the way Duplicated N finished out in December with a third-place finish in the $100,000 Potomac at Rosecroft. “He feels like a good one,” said Tetrick, “We’ll have to see what happens when we get him on the front end.”

Certainly that mystery and many more will be unraveled during the coming weeks of intense stakes action at Yonkers.