Hollywood’s Hits: Big weekend on tap from the Levy to Always B Miki and the Queen Bee
Always B Miki makes his much-anticipated debut at the Meadowlands Saturday in the $25,000 open handicapping after a four-for-four four-year-old season and a bruising Breeders Crown score.
Bee A Magician is on the Meadowlands card Friday with the horse to beat the only other mare in the race — Shake It Cerry. If the latter wins, it will be the first time two females will have appeared in the same race with earnings exceeding $2.5 million.
Brian Sears handles the $3.7 million earner Bee A Magician the 17-for-17 Horse Of The Year in 2013. Sears is the only driver in the sport’s history to have had two different undefeated Horses Of The Year. He also drove Muscle Hill, who was 12-for-12 in 2009. He’s also driven Rocknroll Hanover, the 2005 HOY. No driver in history has piloted three Horses of the Year and not been elected to the Hall of Fame.
With Wiggle It Jiggleit going in the consolation for the Levy, that means that two former Horses of the Year are in action in the same calendar year. Bunny Lake (2001) and Gallo Blue Chip (2000) did it for three straight years in 2002-2004.
A little Levy-ty
Looking back on the George Morton Levy in honor of Saturday’s final:
1978 — In the Levy kickoff, Sirota Anderson won it for Stormin’ Norman Dauplaise.
1985 — On The Road Again takes the Levy in year eight en route to a near $3 million career.
1995 — Riyadh wins the Levy on the fast track to a sterling $2.7 million career.
The Down Under Factor. Yonkers has 24 horses on its Saturday night card bred Down Under, three are in the Levy final. Bit Of A Legend N post 2, Texas Terror N has post four and Texican N had post six. No Down Under horse has won this final, and it they do it this year, they will have selected the right year. The final goes for an all-time best $609,000.
Bit Of A Legend N, now seven, is attempting to sweep the series coming in off the dead heat score with Wiggle It Jiggleit. It counts as a win, though, just like it did for Cam Fella in 1983 when he won his final 28 career starts, and yes, one of them was a dead heat. It was June 23, 1983 against 83-1 Walt Hanover and the time of 1:53.1 stood as Cam Fella’s career best.
Wiggle It Jiggleit is one of just two horses in history who have made $2 million in a single season without winning a million-dollar race. The other was Rock N Roll Heaven in 2010, who missed the board in the North America Cup and was just edged out in the $1 million Meadowlands Pace, yet still banked $2.156 million.
Wiggle It Jiggleit has four sub-1:50 miles on the half — none of the Levy legs, or any mile in Yonkers history has gone in faster than 1:50.
Three trainers in the Levy have two horses entered — Ron Burke, Jeffrey Bamond and Peter Tritton — while Team Bamond also has a pair in the Matchmaker. Burke will have an entry of All Bets Off and Take It Back Terry. Burke won this final back to back in 2009 and 2010 with Foiled Again at age five and six.