Through leg four of the five-leg series at Yonkers, Saturday night winners Somewhere In L A and Bit Of A Legend N now sit first and second, respectively, in the standings.

by Dave Briggs

The fourth leg of the George Morton Levy Series at Yonkers was split into three $50,000 divisions Saturday as series leaders Dr J Hanover (1st, 225 points) and Western Fame (3rd, 183) took the week off.

1-9 fave Bit Of A Legend N dominates 1st division

In the first division, 1-9 favorite Bit Of A Legend N and Jordan Stratton powered out of the two-hole, took command from Chumlee A (Larry Stalbaum) in the first turn and then eased his way through soft early fractions of :28, and :57.2.

Daniel Dube pulled from third spot with Long Live Rock up the backside the second time around and challenged, but Bit Of A Legend N dispatched him easily through a 1:25.3 third-quarter before sprinting off to a 1 1/4-length win in 1:53.2.

Chumlee A held on for second. Killer Martini and Jason Bartlett snuck up to grab the third check, Long Live Rock was fourth and Change Stride N driven by Yannick Gingras was the last horse in the money.

With the win, Bit Of A Legend upped his series point total to 237 to place him second in the standings. The $25,000 payday also put his career earnings at $1,978,856, just $21,114 shy of $2 million for owner Vonknoblauch Stable LLC of Hampton Bays, NY and trainer Peter Tritton.

Bit Of A Legend N, a son of Bettors Delight out of Sokys Legend, won the 2016 Levy final and had a win in leg one of this year’s series.

Somewhere In L A leaps into top spot

Joe Bongornio blasted 95-1 shot Evenin Of Pleasure out of the eight-hole to the lead in the second Levy division, but 6-5 favorite Somewhere In L A and Bartlett, starting from the rail, wrestled back command of the race before the :25.4 quarter-mile station with Evenin Of Pleasure settling into the pocket.

Bartlett slowed things down from there with a :29.4 second quarter, cruised through the 1:25 third-quarter and on to a two-length win over a surprisingly-tough Evenin Of Pleasure in 1:53.

Christen Me N (Stratton) was third. Rodeo Rock (Eric Goodell) was fourth and second choice Rockin Ron, who was second in the standings entering the night, held on to finish fifth and earn five points despite it clearly not being his night.

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 $95,000 this year with a record of 4-2-0 in 6 starts. He is a winner of $1,418,906 lifetime in 118 starts, 34 of those victories. After second-place finishes in both of the first two Levy legs and wins in his last two, the pacer now ranks first with 250 points, just ahead of
Bit Of A Legend N.

Mach It So takes final division

In the final Levy division of the night, David Miller piloted 9-5 favorite Mach It So to a one-length victory in 1:53.1, a seasonal mark for the 8-year-old son of Mach it So out of Beach Dancer.

Keystone Velocity (Dube) was the early leader out of the five hole, with Mach It So on his heels through the :27 opening quarter.

Miller guided Mach It So to the lead before the :56.4 half and held on through the 1:24.3 third-quarter and on to victory.

Keystone Velocity was second, followed by Bettor Memories (Tetrick), Mac’s Jackpot (Scott Zeron) and Simply Susational N (Stalbaum).

With the victory, Mach It So improved to 2-0-1 in four 2018 starts for Bamond Racing LLC of Brick, NJ and trainer Jeff Bamond, Jr and vaulted past $2.5 million in career earnings.

The 75 Levy points Mach It So earned on the night (50 for the win, 25 for the start) put him in fifth spot overall with 212 points, just behind Dr J Hanover who won each of his first three Levy tests and took week four off.