Yonkers: Burke brings strong contingent into Matchmaker, Levy fourth round

Some trainers make it look so easy that the public might get the idea that winning the big ones is an easy task. Certainly trainer Ron Burke has risen to the top rung of the ladder over the years but not without a plan. Burke’s brigade has been made up of a large collection of horses acquired in many different ways. On Friday (April 6) Lakeisha Hall, a mare that was purchased as a weanling by Burke and his partners, will be looking for another leg victory in the Blue Chip Matchmaker at Yonkers.

“We actually had three Kentucky-bred fillies and I told the partners I only wanted to keep one of them,” said Burke, recalling his thoughts while Lakeisha Hall, a daughter of Third Straight, was training down. “They finished 1-2-3 in the Kentucky Sire Stakes final at 2 and then 1-2 in the final at 3. We kept the right one.”

Burke’s foresight was indeed 20-20 when it came to the mare and after dominating in Kentucky as a 2 and 3-year-old, he was reluctant to pursue a full-blown 4-year-old campaign. “I wanted to protect her last year and that’s why we didn’t go into every race,” said Burke. “I wanted to have her ready for this series.”

That planning has worked nearly perfectly despite the fact that Lakeisha Hall owns but one victory in three legs of the series and likely will need one this Friday or in the final preliminary round to secure a spot in the final. With the series winding down so were the entries and only three divisions are slated for Friday, with Lakeisha Hall the likely favorite in the seventh race and final division.

“She raced great in the first leg but had no chance,” said Burke. “The second week I think if she’d gotten out earlier she could have won. Last week she got the trip and was very sharp.”

On Saturday, three $50,000 divisions are slated for the George Morton Levy series, but Burke elected not to include $2.9 million winning All Bets Off among the trio he dropped in the entry box. “He’s not lame before the races,” said Burke. “We’re going to send him for bone scans and hope to find something. He’s out of the Levy series. We did this with Sweet Lou and he returned better later in the year.”

Caviart Luca (post 6) hopes to post another solid mile and perhaps earn a trip to the consolation. “It’s going to be a little tough for him with the speed on the inside in that field,” said Burke, looking inside to speedster Chumlee A (post 1) and 2016 Levy champion Bit Of A Legend N (post 2). “I thought he raced great last week. He was locked in and loaded.”

Rockin Ron came up a little short in third leg action after sweeping through the first two rounds. A 6-year-old by Real Desire, Rockin Ron will have company in the form of Somewhere In L A (post 1) and Missile J (post 6), both with victories in last week’s third leg.

With two wins and a second already, Rockin Ron appears a certainty to qualify for the final with a solid effort on Saturday.

The same could be true for Burke’s third entrant Always At My Place, who landed post three in the final division carded as race nine. “He wasn’t going anywhere with that trip last week,” said Burke, a bit frustrated that the race played out with Bit Of A Legend N getting a 3-hole tuck in front of Always At My Place and then sitting in while Dr J Hanover dawdled to the half.

Always At My Place was a solid winner in opening round action, coming up without cover after a solid early clip had been cut out. The trip was radically different in round two for Always At My Place when he was forced to race without cover into a 55-second final half and faltered.

Burke’s chances were buoyed by the luck of the draw as this division lacks another leg winner. “I think Bettor Memories (post 7) has been the sharpest of these horses but he landed outside,” said Burke. “Mach It So (post 1) wasn’t that good last week and Keystone Velocity (post 5) hasn’t looked as good as he did last year.”

Still much is riding for the competition as well as Always At My Place as all look for valuable points to reach the lucrative final.

Yonkers hosts a dozen races on its Friday and Saturday stakes card with first post at 6:50 p.m.