When it comes to qualifying for the George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series championship, Heez Orl Black N is on the outside looking in. But thanks to a preliminary round win last week at 13-1 odds, the gelding’s chances of advancing to the lucrative final have improved significantly.
Yonkers Raceway hosts the last preliminary round of the Levy Series on Saturday. Twenty of the top 21 horses in the standings were among the pacers entered, with the group divided into three seven-horse fields. P H Supercam, who is No. 1 in points and guaranteed a spot in the final thanks to winning all three of his previous Levy starts, is in the second division. He is joined there by Beach Memories, who is tied for second in the standings.
Horses receive 25 points for each start in the series. First-place finishes are worth 50 points, with 25 points for second, 12 points for third, eight points for fourth and five points for fifth. The top eight horses in the standings following Saturday’s preliminary round will qualify for the final on April 25. The next eight horses are eligible for the consolation.
The top 14 horses in the standings are separated by 71 points. The field for Saturday’s third Levy division includes four horses – Take It Back Terry, Fat Mans Alley, Windsong Jack and Domethatagain – who are in the top nine. Michaels Power, who is tied for second in the standings, was not entered this week.
Heez Orl Black N, who is 10th in the standings, drew post No. 1 in the first division. The all-black seven-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding, trained by Anita Vallee, trails Sapphire City by four points for the eighth spot in the standings.
Sapphire City drew post three in the same Levy division as Heez Orl Black N while Polak A, who is seventh in the standings, got post five. Bettors Edge, who is 11th in the standings, three points behind Heez Orl Black N, received post No. 2. No other horses in the top 11 are in the first division.
“With a good draw, I think we have a chance to hit the board and then we’ll let the chips fall where they may,” said Shaun Vallee, who owns Heez Orl Black N with Daniel Vlahakis’ DPV Racing Stable. “I’m not wishing any of the other ones bad luck, but just hoping I have enough luck to get in.”
Vallee purchased Heez Orl Black N, a former stakes-winner in New Zealand, in October. Heez Orl Black N, a son of stallion In The Pocket out of the mare Cracker Kate, won 15 races and $182,615 competing Down Under.
“When he was racing over there, his races were very consistent and very good races,” said Vallee, who saw Heez Orl Black N while visiting friends in Australia. “I was just lucky they were willing to sell him. They had so many in the same class and were willing to sell him.”
In his first start this year, Heez Orl Black N finished third at The Meadowlands. He then was sent to Yonkers, where the half-mile oval suited his smaller build. He won his first two starts at The Hilltop before finishing second to P H Supercam in a conditioned race in late January.
“After I raced him a couple starts, I thought that if he kept racing consistently that we could put him in the Levy,” said Vallee, who drove Heez Orl Black N in his first nine starts. “But in the beginning, I wasn’t that sure. After he won three or four races, I thought he might be alright in there and we gave him a chance.
“He’s average to smaller [size]. That’s his game, the half-mile [track]. We’ll give him a couple weeks off after the Levy and then he’ll race mostly in overnights at Yonkers. That’s a good spot for him. Unless he does real good in the Levy, then I might try to put him in other races. But I’m not so sure he’ll be real good at the mile track against those other horses when they start going big miles.”
Heez Orl Black won last week with driver Brian Sears by one length over National Debt in 1:53.1. He also has two fourth-place finishes among four starts in the Levy.
“He’s versatile and he’s all racehorse on the track,” Vallee said. “No matter where he is, he never stops trying. Even if he’s in what you’d call an impossible spot, he’s still trying to do it. That’s a good sign.”
Levy Standings (Top 20): 1. P H Supercam 225; T2. Beach Memories, Michaels Power, Take It Back Terry 200; T5. Fat Mans Alley, Windsong Jack 187; 7. Polak A 175; 8. Sapphire City 170; 9. Domethatagain 168; 10. Heez Orl Black N 166; 11. Bettors Edge 163; 12. Lucan Hanover 162; 13. Frankies Dragon 158; 14. Mach It So 154; 15. National Debt 142; 16. Machs Beach Boy 140; 17. Clear Vision 137; 18. Texican N 128; T19. McErlean, Warrawee Needy 125.
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.