Keystone Velocity wins second straight Levy
Saturday, April 21, 2018 – by Ken Weingartner, USTA Media Relations Manager
Yonkers, NY — Keystone Velocity won his second consecutive George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series championship, moving to the lead as the field reached the quarter-mile point and retaining the top spot every step of the way from there to defeat Bit Of A Legend N by one length in 1:52 at Yonkers Raceway on Saturday (April 21).
Somewhere In L A finished third and Mach It So was fourth in the $532,000 event for older male pacers.
Western Fame, who started from post one, led the field around the first turn, followed by Dr J Hanover and Keystone Velocity. Dan Dube then put Keystone Velocity in gear and brushed to the front and recorded fractions of :26.4, :56.2, and 1:23.4 on his way to the win.
Keystone Velocity, a 10-year-old stallion, joins Foiled Again as the only back-to-back winners of the Levy. Foiled Again accomplished the feat in 2009 and 2010.
“He’s a very nice horse,” Dube said. “For sure he’s better with cover, from behind, but you can do whatever you want with him. When I went to the front and got a breather, it was good.”
Keystone Velocity, last year’s Dan Patch Award winner for best older male pacer, has won two of six races this year and earned $320,000. For his career, the son of Western Hanover out of Venus Killean has won 29 of 116 starts and earned $1.64 million.
Rene Allard trains Keystone Velocity for owners Allard Racing, Kapildeo Singh, Earl Hill Jr., and VIP Internet Stable.
Sent off as the 5-2 favorite, Keystone Velocity paid $7.00 to win.