Final Levy and Blue Chip Matchmaker prelims set for Yonkers

Yonkers Raceway this weekend hosts the fifth and final preliminary rounds in both the George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series and Blue Chip Matchmaker. The Levy, Yonkers' premier free-for-all event, offers three, $50,000 trials--races 6,8 and 9 on the 11-race card.

Saturday night's first division is led by King Cat Anvil N (Jordan Stratton, post 2), with a pair of early-round wins to his credit. The 7-year-old Down Under Christian Cullen gelding, trained by Dave Stratton for owner John Kiwczak, has been the beaten odds-on choice in his two most recent Levy efforts.

Foiled Again (Yannick Gingras, post 4), AWOL a week ago, won his two latest series starts, while Real Nice (Stephane Bouchard, post 3) has a win and a trio of thirds on his Levy resume.

The middle grouping finds Mighty Young Joe (Stacy Chiodo, post 4), who parlayed a second-over trip into a 15-1 upset a week ago, taking on, among  others, Wholly Louy (Bouchard, post 1) and Atochia (Greg Grismore, post 7). The former mssed a neck to "Joe," while the latter skimmed the cones to win his event two weeks ago.

The last Levy legion is a pre-final showdown between Blueridge Western (Jason Bartlett, post 4) and Lucky Bettor (Grismore, post 6).

"Blueridge," a 4-year-old Allamerican Ingot gelding, has three wins and a second in four series starts for owner Francis Azur and trainer Kevin  McDermott.  Lucky Bettor, a 5-year-old statebred Bettor's Delight gelding, has a couple of wins and a second in his quartet of tries. Ron Burke trains the stablemate of Foiled Again for Burke Racing, JJK Stables and Weaver Bruscemi.  

Friday night, a pair of $40,000 Matchmaker mare melees go as races 8 and 9 on the 13-race program. Ramona Disomma (Stratton, post 5), a winner in her first series try two weeks ago, is the early choice here. The 4-year-old daughter of Pacific Fella, trained by Jake Hartline for Anaatolia Racing Stable, goes after her fourth seasonal victory.

The final prelim event is indeed a preview of the final, with Sportsfancy (Bartlett, post 2), Pancleefandarpels (Stratton, post 3) and Chancey Lady (Cat Manzi, post 8) slugging it out. Between the trio, they've accounted for five series wins.

Sportsfancy, a 5-year-old Sportsmaster lass trained by Josh Green for owner Larry Baron, stepped out of the Matchmaker a week ago ago and wired an  Open field at Chester. Millionairess Chancey Lady, a 4-year-old Camluck lass owned by Niele Jiwan and trained by Mark Kesmodel, drilled her Matchmaker  mates last week (1:52.3), including "Pancleef," who couldn't reach from the eight hole. The 5-year-old Noble Ability lass, owned by Peter Pan Stables and trained by Erv Miller, gets post  relief here as she tries for her sixth '09 victory.  

Both series conclude a week from Saturday night (May 2), with the final of the Levy going for $370,000 and the first-ever finale of the Matchmaker worth $229,000. A pair of series consolations, worth $100,000 (Levy) and $75,000 (Matchmaker), are also scheduled for the same night. (Yonkers)

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