BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Saturday, April 22,
2017—Keystone Velocity (Dan Dube, $24.80) was hard-used early and hard-headed
late Saturday night (Apr. 22nd), winning Yonkers Raceway’s $529,000
final of the George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series.
The sport’s richest race of the season to
date again honored the memory of the Hall of Fame founder of Roosevelt Raceway.
At the outset of the 30th Levy,
pole-sitting McWicked (Matt Kakaley) was—not surprisingly—put into play. He was
joined by Keystone Velocity, who from post position No. 4, forged to the lead
just after a spiffy :26.1, opening quarter-mile.
Somewhere in L A (Jason Bartlett), leaving
right outside of Keystone Velocity, was caught three-wide and forced to wrangle
back to fourth.
McWicked, who had retaken the lead in the
second turn, found a :54.4 intermission before longshot Blood Brother (Brian
Sears) moved from third. He uncoupled stablemate Somewhere in L A latched from
second-over, with even-money choice Missile J (Tim Tetrick) and last season’s
champion, Bit of a Legend N (Jordan Stratton), at the back of that train.
McWicked maintained his advantage through
a 1:22.3 intermission three-quarters (:27.4 third station), taking a tenuous
lead into the lane.
However, his night was about to come to a
unsatisfying conclusion. McWicked was done early off final turn, but nor
before taking Keystone Velocity to the promised land of the passing lane. It
was Keystone Velocity fighting off the race’s other tough mile, beating
Somewhere in L A by a head in 1:51.2.
Missile J settled for third, beaten a
length, with a very-wide Bit of a Legend N fourth and 107-1 proposition
Soto (Brett Miller) grabbing the final pay envelope. .
Blood Brother, Pcovocativeprincen (Yannick
Gingras) and McWicked completed the order.
For Keystone
Velocity, a 9-year-old son of Western Hanover co-owned (as Allard Racing) by
trainer Rene Allard, Kapildeo Singh, Earl Hill Jr and VIP Internet Stable, it
was his third win (as the fifth choice) in seven seasonal starts. The exacta
paid $135.50, the triple returned $593 and the superfecta paid $2,406.
"Rene (Allard) and I talked before the race and we decided we had to
leave the gate,” Dube said. “I was just hoping Matt (Kakaley, with McWicked)
could get me to the lane. My horse felt very strong, but I did see the other
one (Somewhere in L A) coming.”
The
driver/trainer combination was this race two seasons ago with Domethatagain,
also with a two-hole trip.
A $100,000
series consolation was won by Clear Vision (Miller, $8.40) in 1:51.3.
