by Frank Drucker, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway

Yonkers, NY — It’s the last chance to impress the judges this weekend, with Yonkers Raceway hosting the fifth and final preliminary legs of both the Blue Chip Matchmaker and George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series.

Friday night, there’s just one, six-horse, $40,000 Matchmaker division, going as race six of the dozen-race card. Camille (George Brennan), sitting fourth in the standings, won the draw as she preps for the series finale (the first three series point leaders, Carolsideal, Venus Delight and Yagonnakissmoenot, are off this weekend).

Camille, a 7-year-old millionaire daughter of Camluck, sandwiched a win around two seconds in her Matchmaker efforts. A peek at the series scoreboard shows the eight finalists (top four, plus Monkey on My Wheel, Krispy Apple, Fancy Desire and Strings) all but certain

Saturday night, three, $50,000 Levy divisions (races five through seven of 12) find the return of series standouts P H Supercam (Jason Bartlett) and Beach Memories (Dan Dube), both of whom earned a week’s hiatus and both of whom drew into the same (second) grouping.

The former, defending series champ, drew post position five. A perfect 3-for-3 in this season’s preps, the 8-year-old Million Dollar Cam gelding, 5-for-8 this season, becomes a career millionaire ($987,291) with a win Saturday.

Beach Memories, with a pair of wins and a first-up second included in his series resume, starts from post two. The 5-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding, who began this competition trained by Ron Burke before moving to Scott DiDomenico, has hit the board in all six (2 wins, 2 seconds, 2 thirds) seasonal starts.

Take it Back Terry (Brennan), who has emerged as the star of Burke’s contingent in this season’s Levy, starts from post three in Saturday night’s third event.

The first eight in the Levy standings through four rounds…1-P H Supercam (225 points), 2t-Beach Memories (200), 2t-Michael’s Power (200), 2t-Take it Back Terry (200), 5t-Fat Man’s Alley (187), 5t-Windsong Jack (187), 7-Polak A (175), 8-Sapphire City (170).

Finals for the Blue Chip Matchmaker and George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series are set for Saturday, Apr. 25. Between you and I and totally off-the-record, the purses (provided no scratches this weekend) are $261,000 (Matchmaker) and $529,000 (Levy). As usual, they are the two richest North American races of the season to date.

The Raceway’s live season continues Thursday through Saturday (first post each night at 7:10 p.m.). Evening simulcasting accompanies all nighttime programs, with afternoon simulcasting available daily.