BY FRANK
DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY,
Wednesday, April 22, 2015—During the glory days of Army football in the
mid-1940’s, there was “Mr. Inside” (Felix ‘Doc’ Blanchard) and “Mr. Outside”
(Glenn Davis).
It took two
people to play those roles then. However, Jason Bartlett is so talented, he can
dress up as “Mr. Inside” and “Mr.. Outside” all by his lonesome, with a
performance scheduled for Saturday night.
Bartlett found
himself experiencing both end of Yonkers Raceway’s open-draw stakes spectrum,
landing the pylons in the $261,000 final of the Blue Chip Matchmaker, then
banished to the eight-hole with defending champion P H Supercam in the $529,000
finale of the George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series.
Both horses are
owned by Bamond Racing and trained by Jeffrey Bamond Jr.
. The 28th
edition of the Levy—a Free-For-All event named for the Hall of Fame founder of
Roosevelt Raceway—is the sport’s richest race of the season to date, while the
seventh Matchmaker (an Open Mare Pace) is at No. 2 on the hit parade.
Ladies First,
so, with the Matchmaker going as the sixth race of Yonkers’ dozen-race card
(first post 7:10 PM, co-feature approximately 9 PM).
“Obviously,
you’re going to use to it her (Venus Delight’s) advantage,” Bartlett said.
“Push out, not get away third and fourth. There’s no ‘looking to work a trip
from third or fourth’ here.
“She’s not real
quick, but she can go all day. Her last quarter is usually her best one.”
Venus Delight, a
5-year-old daughter of Bettor’s Delight, earned her way into the final with two
wins and a second in three prelim starts. She comes off a season’s-best 1:53.2
effort (also from the inside post position) in Round 4 of this series, then
earned last week off.
While Bartlett
was loving his starting venue with “Venus,” he was loathing his point of entry
with P H Supercam. The Levy is as the eighth race (feature approximately 9:50
PM).
“It’s
unfortunate, but we have to play the hands that’s dealt,” he said. “(P H
Supercam) is very versatile, and you can race him any way you want.
“I think he’s
shown he’s the best horse in this series, and he really hasn’t had to be raced
too hard.
“He’s coming
into the final as sharp as he can be, but I also know you don’t win too many
races here sitting last. My job is to find a way to get him involved.”
P H Supercam, an
8-year-old Million Dollar Cam gelding, was a perfect 4-for-4 in series
competition, the last win (1:52.3) making him a career millionaire
($1,012,291).
The draw for the
final of the Levy…1-Domethatagain (Dan Dube), 2-Lucan Hanover (Dave Miller),
3-Windsong Jack (Eric Carlson), 4-Beach Memories (Yannick Gingras), 5-Take it
Back Terry (George Brennan). 6-Polak A (Brian Sears), 7-Mach it So (Tim
Tetrick), 8-P H Supercam (Bartlett). Note that Mach it So and P H
Supercam race as a common ownership/trainer entry.
The draw for the
final of the Blue Chip Matchmaker…1-Venus Delight (Bartlett),
2-Yagonnakissmeornot (Sears), 3-Fancy Desire (Gingras), 4-Carolsideal (Dube),
5-Monkey on My Wheel (Dave Miller), 6-Strings (Eric Carlson), 7-Krispy
Apple (Tetrick), 8-Camille (Brennan). Note a pair of coupled
common-ownership/trainer entries in Venus Delight and Krispy Apple &
Yagonnakissmeornot and Carolsideal.
Two series
consolations were carded as races 5 (Matchmaker, $75,000) and 7 (Levy,
$100,000), along with a $50,000 race for eligibles to the Levy (fourth race).
