Falling Sky, Edge of Reality meet in LeVine Memorial

Falling Sky and Edge of Reality, both Grade 3 winners with question marks because of subpar performances prior to a layoff, head a dozen sprinters in Saturday’s $100,000 Donald LeVine Memorial Handicap at Parx Racing.

The seven-furlong sprint, which goes as race 8 at 3:34 p.m. Eastern, also attracted the 2013 LeVine winner, Traffic Light, and Goodtimehadbyall, whose winter campaign in Florida was highlighted by a convincing victory in the Rapid Transit Stakes.

Falling Sky, the winner of last year’s Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes as a 3-year-old, has focused on races between seven furlongs and one mile this season. His best performance came when he scored a front-running 5 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint in February.

Falling Sky regressed in two subsequent starts at the Grade 2 level and will be making his first start since beating just one horse in the Churchill Downs Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

As a 3-year-old in 2013, Edge of Reality recorded four wins, including the Grade 3 Smarty Jones Stakes going long on Labor Day. He has been off since finishing last in January while racing on Aqueduct’s inner track.

DRF FORMULATOR FACT: On a positive note, his new trainer, Graham Motion, is 5 for 8 (62.5 percent) with horses who have been off for 61 to 180 days returning in dirt sprints at 6 1/2 to seven furlongs.

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Traffic Light held on by a neck at 10-1 in last year’s running of the LeVine. He prepped for this spot by winning a high-priced optional claimer at Monmouth Park two weeks ago with a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure, but that might not be a good omen. Trainer Alfredo Velazquez is 1 for 9 with sprinters coming off a winning Beyer top and 0 for 5 with all last-out sprint winners coming back in 14 days or sooner.

Goodtimehadbyall cuts back in distance following a seven-week break. The last time he did something similar, he romped in the seven-furlong Rapid Transit in early December.

Others who merit some respect include Arlo, a 10-time winner locally who won the last time he raced seven furlongs in May; the 3-year-old Brothersofthetime, third in the Grade 2 Swale Stakes going seven furlong in March; and Mezzano, who returned from almost six months off to win a seven-furlong race May 20.