by Brandon Valvo, for the SOA of NY

Yonkers, NY — Last year, Keystone Velocity used a victory in the George Morton Levy Series as a springboard to a successful season. In addition to the Levy, Keystone Velocity posted wins in the Ben Franklin final and the Potomac Pace. His accomplishments ultimately earned him the Dan Patch Award for Older Pacing Male.

Mike Lizzi photo

Keystone Velocity, shown here winning the 2017 Levy final, will attempt to return to this year’s final on Saturday at Yonkers Raceway.

Keystone Velocity was pointed to a similar start to his 2018 campaign. However, unlike last year when Keystone Velocity won two legs of the Levy to secure a spot in the final early in the series, this year the son of Western Hanover is winless in his first four starts.

After a fourth and two runner-up finishes in the first four preliminarily legs of the Levy, Keystone Velocity is ranked 12th by points heading into tonight’s last leg. The top eight earn a spot in the final.

Although Keystone Velocity is now 10-years old, the Allard Stable hasn’t seen any signs of aging from the star pacer. Keystone Velocity missed almost two years of racing between 2014 and 2016 and has 114 lifetime starts. He’s won 27 and earned $1,353,413 for the Allard Stable and partners Kapildeo Singh, Earl Hill Jr., and VIP Internet Stable.

After posting a 9-1/4 length, 1:52.1 win in a Pocono Downs qualifier March 6, Keystone Velocity made his seasonal debut in the series the following week. After starting from post seven, he led at every call, but faded in the stretch to finish fourth. In week two, Keystone Velocity closed from an 8-1/4 length deficit to finish third and was later placed second by the judges. He suffered from the effects of a virus when he finished a disappointing sixth in leg three and last week, rebounded with a second-place finish to Mach It So, who scored a wire-to-wire win off a :56.4 half.

Keystone Velocity will start from post one in tonight’s $50,000 Levy split, the second of three on the 12-race program. To help ensure a top performance in tonight’s race and give Keystone Velocity the best chance of making the final, the Allard Stable opted to make a change to glue-on shoes. Keystone Velocity wore glue-on shoes in his Levy Final, Ben Franklin, and Potomac Pace wins last year.

Keystone Velocity will have regular driver Dan Dube in the sulky. The inside draw made him a 5-2 morning line chance. Mach It So is the 9-5 morning line favorite from post three while Evenin Of Pleasure is a 9-2 shot from post four. Simply Susational, Christen Me, and Another Daily Copy complete the lineup.

First post time tonight is 6:50 p.m. For entries to the card, click here.