Manofmanymuscles made his Saratoga Raceway debut from the rail in the Open Handicap Trot a winning one on Monday afternoon (Feb. 12) and kicked off a five-win day for driver Brett Beckwith.
Beckwith sat behind the seven-year-old Muscles Massive gelding who was tasked with competing in the Open for his Spa debut, which was also the trotter's first start out of the Doug Berkeley stable.
Manofmanymuscles took advantage of his inside post and cut the mile in the $20,270 feature. Beckwith gave the invader first-half fractions of :28.2 and :58.1 before facing a challenge for the first time past three-quarters in 1:27.1. Manofmanymuscles, who came into Monday’s try off a win in 1:54.4 at Dover Downs, dug in and held off late challenges from closers Comeonover Hanover (Billy Dobson) and By The Book (Jay Randall) en route to the 1:57 victory in a neck decision.
Owned by Doug and Leslie Berkeley, Manofmanymuscles paid $7.90 to win as the 3-1 second choice and led an exacta with Comeonover Hanover that returned $56. The triple, which came back $392, was completed by By The Book.
Manofmanymuscles is now two-for-three this year and has won 19 races lifetime with earnings approaching $170,000.
Beckwith also drove a pair of winners for trainer Jackie Greene during the 15-race card, with upsetter GG Raymond ($27) and favoured Busting With Pride ($2.80) taking their respective assignments. The hot-handed reinsman then teamed up with two of his father Mark's trainees, Kenobi ($2.90) and Home N Dry ($4.10), to sweep the late Daily Double and complete his five-bagger. Beckwith shares ownership of the latter trotter with his dad.
Live harness racing continues on Tuesday afternoon with a first post of noon.
(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)