Missile J., the winner of last year’s Art Rooney Pace, tries to continue his success at Yonkers Raceway in the $529,000 George Morton Levy Memorial Pace Final set for this Saturday night, April 22.
The Levy, in its 30th edition, is the richest harness race of the season to date, and honors the memory of the Hall of Fame founder of Roosevelt Raceway.
Missile J. is a four-year-old son of American Ideal, and captured three straight Levy preliminaries before finishing fifth in last week’s prelim leg.
Regular pilot Tim Tetrick drives from post position three for trainer Scott DiDomenico, and is the 4-1 third choice on the morning line.
According to the U.S. Trotting Association’s Anne Chunko, just four of the previous 29 winners of the Levy have been 4-year-olds.
Defending series champ Bit of a Legend N., with “Air” Jordan Stratton in the bike, was two for five in the prelims, including last week’s wire to wire score in a sizzling 1:51.3. The eight-year-old Down Under son of Bettor’s Delight, trained by Peter Tritton, drew post position six and is listed as 5-1.
Somewhere in L.A., another 1:51.3 winner last week in front-end style for leading driver Jason Bartlett, is the 2-1 morning line favorite from post five. The six-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding trained by Richard Banca became the sport’s newest millionaire ($1,022,456) with the triumph.
McWicked scored his first win of the series last week with Matt Kakaley at the helm. The six-year-old son of McArdle is trained by Steve Elliott, and drew the coveted rail as the 3-1 second choice on the morning line.
The field for the 2017 Levy, which goes as the 10th of 12 races (first post 7:10 PM, race is approximately 10:15 PM) is as follows: … 1-McWicked (Matt Kakaley, 3-1), 2-Blood Brother (Brian Sears, 12-1), 3-Missile J (Tim Tetrick, 4-1), 4-Keystone Velocity (Dan Dube, 9-1), 5-Somewhere in L A (Jason Bartlett, 2-1), 6-Bit of a Legend N (Jordan Stratton, 5-1), 7-Provocativeprincen (Yannick Gingras, 20-1), and 8-Soto (Brett Miller, 12-1).