BY FRANK
DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Saturday, April 25, 2015—A
perfect trip and plastic shoes did wonders for Domethatagain (Dan Dube, $17.60)
Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway $529,000 final of the George Morton
Levy Memorial Pacing Series.
Starting from the inside post position
in the Free-For-All event--harness racing’s richest race of the season to
date--Domethatagain saw defending series champion P H Supercam (Jason Bartlett)
leave like a shot from the far outside.
P H Supercam’s job was made much easier
when the three horses directly inside of him—6-5 favorite Take it Back Terry
(George Brennan), Polak A (Brian Sears) and “Supercam’s” stablemate, Mach it So
(Tim Tetrick)—were all off the gate.
P H Supercam made the lead before a
:27.2 opening quarter-mile. Domethatagain was away second, with Lucan Hanover
(Dave Miller) third.
“Lucan” was out early, instigating the
issue toward a spiffy, :55.3 intermission, while Beach Memories (Yannick
Gingras) chased from second-over.
P H Supercam and Lucan Hanover dropped
the gloves in a :27.2 third quarter (1:23), with the former clinging to a short
lead into the lane. Domethatagain then angled inside, getting first “run” and
drawing out. He best a third-over Take it Back Terry by a length in 1:51.1.
Beach Memories was third, with P H
Supercam fading to fourth. Mach it So earned the final pay envelope, with
Windsong Jack (Eric Carlson), Polak A and Lucan Hanover rounding out the order.
The final time made it the fastest local
mile of the season and one-fifth off the stakes record (Maltese Artist’s [Greg
Grismore] 1:51 in 2007).
For fifth choice Domethatagain, a
6-year-old son of Bettor’s Delight co-owned (as Allard Racing) by (trainer)
Rene Allard, Bob Hamather and Bruce Soulsby, it was his second win in seven
seasonal starts. The exacta paid exacta paid $70.50, the triple returned $391
and the superfecta paid $739.
“I was surprised to see (P H Supercam)
coming at me so early, because he usually doesn’t leave that fast,”
Dube—winning his first Levy—said. “I had no problem sitting behind him and it
worked out perfectly. He’s hasn’t always been same horse every week, but he was
very good tonight.”
“We weren’t happy with the way he was
handling the track, so we tried plastic shoes up front,” Allard said. “We
thought he’d be better with them, and obviously it helped.”
Not to mention a helluva trip.
The 28th edition of the Levy
again honored the Hall of Fame founder of Roosevelt Raceway, with the Levy
family in attendance to make the winner’s circle presentation.
A $100,000 series consolation was won by
Sapphire City (Mark MacDonald, $29.80) in 1:52.2
Note that since
no one took Saturday night’s Pick 5, Monday’s gimmick begins with a carryover
of $4,752.50 ($10,000 guaranteed pool).
The Raceway’s live season continues
Monday (post time 7:10 PM), Tuesday (1 PM, $66,500 final of YR/SOA of NY Bonus
Trotting Series), then Thursday through Saturday (all at 7:10 PM). Evening
simulcasting accompanies all nighttime programs, with afternoon simulcasting
available daily.
