Bruce Levine – The New Jersey Boss

That Thunder Road known as the avenue to Monmouth Park has seen a new boss this season and it’s not Springsteen or Bush but a veteran named Bruce Levine.

From short prices to long prices, horse bettors that just isolated his stock at the shore this year cashed a ton of tickets. He was popping at 45% through the 4th week of July and was making a mockery of the training standings at Oceanport.

If a horse bettor can kind of get into the head of a trainer, and be able to anticipate where that trainer may spot his horses, then this is the type of exercise that can pay huge dividends with hard work.

Bruce Levine is a lucky man, and not just because he’s a human win machine. Not many people in this country can turn a hobby into a successful career and enjoy it all the way. It’s always nice to know when you plunk your money down, you are backing a trainer that knows the game inside and out.

Levine’s quote in the official New York Racing Association bio says it all. Levin: “I always came to the track to play the horses. That was my biggest hobby. Eventually, I found my way to the backstretch and started walking hots.”

Born in New York in the winter of 1955, Levine wasn’t really bred for the racing game but it found him and he found the sport.

Always attracted to the gambling aspect of the game, Levine was always going to the track to play the horses. He eventually found his way to the backstretch and what was once just a hobby, turned into a way to make a living. Right out of high school, Levine became associated with John Russell and started, like so many, on the bottom rung walking hots.

After a year of so, he started to work for John Campo. This was before Campo became a national figure as his Pleasant Colony won two thirds of the Wood Memorial with Good Behaving, so he was the consummate New York pro who could teach and nurture Levine through his educational process.

It was this relationship as assistant trainer with Campo that showed Levine all the tools he would need to go out on his own. He did just that in 1979 when he took out his trainer’s license.

It provided Levine with his first winner when he got the job done at Grade 3 Grey Lag Handicap in 1982.

What are the best angles to consider when betting Levine horses now?

First of all, he holds his own, percentage-wise, against some top barns in New York that have much more powerful resources. He’s solid with comebackers, claimers, and if he enters in a stakes, it’s to win and not get a slice.

Not known for his work with juveniles, he can get sophomores to fire at first asking and they usually get bet. He doesn’t move his horses from surface to surface often and is much more potent on the drop than on the raise with claimers.

Blinkers have not been the cure-all for Levine and he has normal success when he adds Lasix, with around a 14% win ratio. One of his most potent moves is when he stretches horses out. They often pay generously.

Levine was lucky enough to turn a hobby into a career. And the career flourishes.

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