Through leg three of the five-leg series at Yonkers, Dr J Hanover tops the standings with 225 points.

by Dave Briggs

Dr J Hanover remains undefeated through three legs of the George Morton Levy Series at Yonkers after Brett Miller guided him to a 1:53.3 score in the second of four $50,000 divisions Saturday at Yonkers.

Miller had Dr J Hanover on the lead in short order out of the four-hole. Jason Bartlett and Another Daily Copy challenged early through the :28.3 opening quarter, but ceded the pocket to Bit Of A Legend N and Jordan Stratton up the backside the second time after Dr J Hanover led the way to a :58 half.

Miller guided Dr J Hanover through a 1:26 third-quarter split and defeated Bit Of A Legend N by one length. Another Daily Copy was third, followed by Mister Daytona N and Always At My Place.

Dr J Hanover, a 5-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere out of So Perfect is trained by Tony Alagna for Brad Grant of Milton, ON, Robert Leblanc of Austin, TX, Steve Wienick of Delray Beach, FL and Irwin Samelman of Las Vegas, NV.

With the victory, the gelded pacer is now 3-1-0 in four starts this year with earnings of $80,000. He has earned $576,580 lifetime and sports a mark of 1:46.4 set in 2017 at Mohawk. It is the fastest mile ever record on Canadian soil.

Western Fame nips Rock Ron at the wire

Rockin Ron lost his bid to remain undefeated in the series and tied atop the standings when Western Fame (Mark MacDonald) nipped him at the wire by a nose in 1:52.4 in the third division.

Rockin Ron (Yannick Gingras) and Western Fame battled into the first turn with the former taking the lead through a quarter in :27.3 and Keystone Velocity (Daniel Dube) in third. The same order remained through the :56.4 half and 1:25 third-quarter. But as Rockin Ron looked like he was headed to victory, MacDonald soared by in deep stretch to record his second straight Levy victory. Combined with a second-place finish in the first leg, that places Western Fame third in the standings with 183 points, just behind Rockin Ron with 200 and Dr J Hanover with 225.

Killer Martini (Bartlett) finished third, Rodeo Rock (Eric Goddell) was fourth and Simply Susational N (Larry Stalbaum) was fifth.

Western Fame, a 5-year-old homebred son of Western Ideal out of Shyaway, is owned by Brittany Farms and is trained by Jimmy Takter.

Western Fame has a record of 2-0-1 in 4 2018 starts and earned of $56,400. Lifetime, Western Fame has earned $738,118.

Missile J dominant in 1:52

Driver Tim Tetrick had Missile J out and rolling early out of the three hole and never looked back, leading at every call through fractions of :27.3, :56 and 1:24.1 en route to a strong one-length win in 1:52.

Kyle Husted guided Bettor Memories to a second-place finish and Caviart Luca (George Brennan) was third. Great Vintage and Orillia Joe picked up the final two checks.

Missile J is a 5-year-old son of American Ideal—Cantor’s Daughter owned by John McGill of Albion, IN and Brian Carsey of Connersville, IN and trained by Scott Di Domenico.

The gelding has earned $92,200 this year with a 4-1-1 record in 9 starts. He has earned $727,327 lifetime.

Missile J was second in his opening-leg test two weeks ago and third last week. He currently has 162 points and sits tied for fifth in the standings.

Somewhere In L A in 1:53

Bartlett sat fourth with Somewhere In L A through the early going of the fourth and final Levy division of the night, but attacked with authority up the backstretch the second time around en route to victory.

Early leader Franco Rayner N (Joe Bongiorno) held off Somewhere In L A for a bit, and led the field through splits of :27.3 and :56.1, but eventually gave way to Somewhere In L A just before the third-quarter station was reached in 1:23.4. Franco Rayner N faded to last and Somewhere In L A sprinted off to a one-length victory over Long Live Rock (Dube) in 1:53. Luciano N was third, Chumlee A was fourth and Change Stride N was fifth.

Somewhere In L A is a 7-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere out of West Of L A owned by D’Elegance Stable IX of Florham Park, NJ, Carmen Iannacone of Lyndhurst, NJ, T L P Stable of Kearny, NJ and The Gandolfo Stables of Saddle River, NJ. The gelded pacer is trained by Richard Banca.

Somewhere In L A has earned $70,000 this year with a record of 3-2-0 in 5 starts. He is a winner of $1,393,906 lifetime in 117 starts, 33 of those victories. After second-place finishes in both of the first two Levy legs, the pacer now ranks fourth with 175 points.