Keep Rockin A needs check in Matchmaker series

With a win last week, Keep Rockin A put herself in position to advance to the April 25 final of the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for older female pacers at Yonkers Raceway. But the 6-year-old mare needs to keep rockin’ on Friday.

Keep Rockin A vaulted to No. 8 in the Matchmaker’s points standings with her 1:51.4 victory on April 8 at Yonkers. It was Keep Rockin A’s first win for trainer Jeff Cullipher, who bought the mare with ownership partner Pollack Racing in November. Prior to the sale, the Australian-born import won three times in the U.S., including the Betsy Ross Invitational.

The top-eight horses at the end of Friday’s fifth of five preliminary rounds are eligible for the Blue Chip Matchmaker final. If horses are tied for the last spot, they will be drawn by lot to complete the field.

“It was a long time coming,” Pollack Racing’s Tom Pollack said about Keep Rockin A’s win. “We liked her from the minute we got her, she’s just had some bumps in the road. She was tying up, she shut her air off a couple times; it’s just always been something.

“(Second trainer Rico Robinson) has done a really good job trying to fix everything. Last week, she finally put it all together.”

Keep Rockin A, a daughter of Rock N Roll Heaven-Kept For Pleasure, has competed in every round of the series, posting a third and two fourths in addition to her win. For her career in North America, she has won four of 28 starts and $167,447.

“We would have loved to give her a week off at some point in the series, but unfortunately based on where we were and the fact that she’s really not staked to a lot, we wanted to keep going and give her every shot here,” Pollack said.

On Friday, Keep Rockin A is in the first of three $40,000 divisions. She will start from post five in a seven-horse field with Tim Tetrick in the sulky. Her division is stacked, with five of the top eight in the Matchmaker standings in the field: Easy To Please (second), Miss You N (tied fourth), and Best Head West and Mystical Carrie (both tied sixth).

Keep Rockin A is 5-1 on the morning line. Miss You N, starting from post one with Dexter Dunn driving for Virgil Morgan Jr., is the 5-2 favorite.

“It’s been a real competitive series, for sure, and we got in with a tough group,” Pollack said. “We control our own destiny. There are a lot of interesting scenarios, but it’s nice to be in a position where if we race well, things hopefully fall into place for us.”

Another horse that won last week to move into contention for the final was Lit De Rose, who is ninth in points. Lit De Rose, who sat out the third leg of the series, has a second and a fifth in addition to her victory.

“After the second leg, she scoped sick and had a little blood in her trachea, so I gave her the week off and put her on Lasix,” trainer-driver Pat Lachance said. “She raced really good (last week); she was really strong.”

Lit De Rose, a 7-year-old daughter of Leader Bayama-Intense, is owned by breeder Guy Corbeil of Quebec. The mare raced in Canada exclusively until November, when she joined Lachance’s stable in New Jersey. Since then, she has won seven of 14 races and hit the board a total of 10 times.

“She’s been very consistent,” Lachance said about the winner of 30 of 85 lifetime starts and $466,777. “We thought she belonged (in the Matchmaker). She is as good as anyone with a trip. She leaves the gate real good, and she finishes strong too. When she’s right, she flies home. She loves to get to the wire.

“She’s got two moves in her, which is nice, and she is very versatile. She can race off the pace, she can be on the lead; it doesn’t matter where you put her, she likes to race either way. That makes things a lot easier.”

Lit De Rose is in the second Matchmaker division, which includes one other horse in the standing’s top 10 — Racine Bell, who is tied for second. Racine Bell, starting from post one with Jason Bartlett driving for David Dewhurst, is the 7-5 morning-line favorite. Lit De Rose, who leaves from post six, is 6-1.

The third division finds the top horse in the series, Drama Act. The 5-year-old Ron Burke trainee has three wins and a third in the event and is safely into the final. George Brennan will drive Drama Act, the 6-5 morning-line favorite, from post four.

Division three also includes Karma Seelster, who is tied for fourth in points. She is 5-2 with Jordan Stratton at the lines for Andrew Adamczyk.

Racing begins at 6:55 p.m. EDT at Yonkers. For Friday’s complete entries, click here. For the complete Blue Chip Matchmaker standings, click here.

by Ken Weingartner, for the USTA