Ziptronic Continues Strong Meet for Levine

When trainer Bruce Levine claimed the long-time New York-bred favorite Ziptronic from Gary Contessa for owner Mike Repole, he had no idea the 8-year-old gelding hadn't cleared his open entry-level allowance condition.

So, on Wednesday, in his 47th career start, the son of City Zip ripped through 5 ½ furlongs in 1:01.89 to easily beat eight other runners by 2 ¾ lengths to accomplish the task in a race with an $85,000 purse.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't realize he was eligible for that," Levine said outside his barn Thursday morning. "I thought he was conditioned out."

Ziptronic, bred by trainer Linda Rice in a partnership, is a classic New York-bred hard-knocker who has been racing on the NYRA circuit since he made his debut July 30, 2008 at Saratoga.

His win yesterday was his second in two starts for Levine and third straight. Levine plucked him from a state-bred optional claimer for $40,000 on June 26 at Belmont Park.

Overall, Ziptronic has a record of 10-5-9 from 47 starts.

[Repole] picked this horse out to claim," Levine said. "He thought he'd like the 5 ½ furlongs up here. That was the reason behind it. I thought this field [in the open allowance race] was softer than the New York race [won by a length on August 10]. In the New York-bred race, you get the [$40,000 claimers] that have won the condition a couple times. In these races, you get the horses that have just broken their maiden or don't have the seasoning."

Ziptronic is top form, and Levine expects to run him back next in a six-furlong turf sprint sometime during the upcoming fall meet at Belmont Park.

"He's pretty mellow, nice to be around," the trainer said. "He can get a little tough to train, but he's nice and at the top of his game."

Levine is having a strong meet at Saratoga with 10 wins from 36 starters, a strike rate of 27 percent, with earnings of $514,003.

Source: NYRA