BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY,
Saturday, April 14, 2018—Yonkers Raceway Saturday night (April 14th)
concluded the preliminaries, with the fifth round of the George Morton Levy
Memorial Pacing Series .
A trio of windy,
$50,000 events featured many of the best Free-For-Allers in their final shot to
be social climbers.
First Division—Pole-sitting Long
Live Rock (Dan Dube, $16), victimized by a series of bad-fortune trip through
the series, took matters into his own hooves here. He stuffed his rival in
behind in post-position order, then finished his rounds (:27.3, :57.2, 1:25.3, 1:53.3).
Long Live Rock,
repelling an early pocket pull by Bettor Memories, owned a length-and-a-half
lead into the lane. He held off a first-up Western Fame (Mark MacDonald) by a
half-length. Missile J (Tim Tetrick) rallied, losing the place photo as the 6-5
favorite.
For fourth choice
Long Live Rock, a 9-year-old Rocknroll Hanover gelding owned and trained by
Rene Allard, it was his third win in a nine seasonal starts (1-for-5 in
series). The exacta paid $71, with the triple returning $216.50
Second Division—Driver and
trainer doubled their pleasure as Keystone Velocity (Dube, $4.50), the
defending series champ, prevailed. Winning the draw, he sat pocketed to Evenin’
of Pleasure (Joe Bongiorno) and that one’s handiwork of :27.2, :56.2 and 1:24.2.
Keystone Velocity engaged the leader early in the final turn,
then went by. He defeated Christen Me N (Tetrick) by a length-and-a-half in
1:52.1, with Mach it So (Dave Miller) third. Evenin’ of Pleasure faded to
fourth.
For Keystone
Velocity, a 10-year-old son of Western Hanover co-owners (as Allard
Racing) by (trainer) Allard, Kapildeo Singh, Earl Hill Jr. and VIP
Internet Stables, it was his first win in five seasonal/series starts. The
exacta paid $28.80, with the triple returning $64.50.
Third
Division---A down-the-road Killer Martini (Yannick
Gingras, $16.40) was quite good in getting off the series schneid.
From post No.
2, he didn’t give much else a shot (:27.1, 56.2, 1:24.2, season’s-best 1:52.4).
Opening 3½ lengths in and out of the final turn, Killer Martini defeated a
from-last Bit of a Legend N (Jordan Stratton) by 3¾ lengths. Dr. J Hanover
(Brett Miller), as the 4-5 choice, was a conservatively-raced third.
For Killer
Martini, a 6-year-old Camluck gelding owned and trained by Ricky Bucci, the
fourth choice is now 3-for-12 this season (1-for-4 in series). The exacta paid
$133.50, with triple returning $271.50.
Saturday night’s
$40,000 Open Handicap Trot, where half the octet misbehaved, was won by In
Secret (George Brennan, $13.40) in 1:57.4.
The final
Levy prelim standings accompany this release. Be advised these are not
necessarily the entrants for the Saturday, Apr. 21st final (purse
$532,000) and consolation ($100,000). Those participants shall be determined by
the race office in accordance with the conditions of the series and in advance
of Monday afternoon’s (Apr. 16th) draw.
