by Frank Drucker, publicity director, Empire City at Yonkers Raceway

Yonkers, NY — Special Report accumulated the most points in preliminary competition, won his last three starts and broke his own divisional track record a week ago. That gaudy resume failed to impress the post position gods, however, who remanded the gifted gelding to the dreaded eight hole for Saturday night’s (May 12) $475,000 final of the George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series at Yonkers Raceway.

The richest-ever Levy, a Free For All event named for the founder of defunct Roosevelt Raceway, returned this season after an 11-year hiatus. It goes as the eighth race on Yonkers’ 10-race card, with first post at 7:40 p.m.

Special Report understatedly has his work cut out for him in Yonkers’ wealthiest race of the season to date. The wickedly-fast 5-year-old son of Keystone Raider answered the bell in each of the six Levy legs, racking up four wins and a pair of seconds. His 1:51 drilling a week ago rewrote his own local older pacing gelding record and was within a fifth of a second of Yonkers’ all-age track standard. That mile — Silver Almahurst’s 1:50.4 — came in winning the ’93 edition of the Levy. Special Report has nine wins and three seconds in his 13 seasonal starts ($185,875) for owner Hugo Iodice, trainer Kim Asher, and driver Larry Stalbaum.

At the other end of the luck spectrum is Pacific Renegade, who drew the pylons after skimming ’em en route to last week’s victory. Yannick Gingras, fresh off his five consecutive wins here Monday night, gets the catch-drive. The 6-year-old son of Cam’s Card Shark has come to hand in this series for owner Joseph Smith and trainer Tom Fanning. He enters the final with two wins, a second and a third in his last four efforts.

Millionaire Maltese Artist (Greg Grismore, post two) looks to add the Levy to his record-setting win in last month’s $125,000 Battle of Lake Erie at Northfield. The 6-year-old Artiscape gelding is trained by Mickey (sent out all those aforementioned Gingras wins) Burke for co-owners Sylvia Burke, John Howard and James Koran. Maltese Artist, who took last week off, walked his opening half in his most recent try, then sprinted away. “Maltese” has hit the board in all but one of his 11 ’07 tries (five wins, two seconds, three thirds) while earning $224,675.

A common ownership (Fred and Anita Fialkow) entry finds Eyes On Kassa (Stephane Bouchard, post three) and Keystone Rodeo (Tim Tetrick, post five) joined at the pari-mutuel hip. The former, a 5-year-old Kassas Branca gelding trained by Julius Czermann, Jr., sandwiched a win around a pair of seconds early in the series but tailed off in his final two preps. The latter, meanwhile, comes in off a pair of blowout wins and has paced four sub-:28 final quarters in succession. “Rodeo,” a 7-year-old son of Western Hanover trained by Kevin Lare, is 6-for-16 this season ($140,725).

Mister Big (Brett Miller, post six) closed for second to Special Report a week ago and was in-the-money in all four of his Levy prelims (two wins, one second, one third). The son of Grinfromeartoear is owned by Joe Muscara and trained by Virgil Morgan, Jr. His 1:52, round one win (over Special Report) set a track record for 4-year-old horses.

Cheyenne Hollywood (Pat Lachance, post four), like Special Report, raced in all six Levy prelims. The 5-year-old son of Western Hanover, trained by Robbie Siegelman for lessees The Cheyenne Gang, has four victories in each of his last two seasons.

Tarver Hanover (Pat Berry, post seven), outgamed by Pacific Renegade a week ago, won his first two series tries for trainer Roy Dinges and owner The Wiz Kids Stable.

A $100,000 Levy Series consolation precedes the finale as the seventh race on the program.

Live racing is currently offered at Yonkers with six programs per week — Monday through Saturday nights at 7:40 p.m. Harness and thoroughbred simulcasting is available seven days a week, while Empire City’s nearly 5,500 video gaming machines are in play daily from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 a.m.