The slop didn’t stop the newly-turned 21-year-old Brett Beckwith from having himself a day at Freehold Raceway on Friday, Feb. 2. He won more than half of the races on the card, visiting the winner’s circle in six out of 10 tries.
Beckwith wasted no time getting to work. In race one, he set the pace after moving around the early leaders by the time they reached the quarter pole with Always As Fast ($7.20) for trainer Mike Polhemus. The 14-year-old mare paced on to cross the wire first in 2:01.3 over the sloppy track.
Race two was a similar story as Beckwith set the pace and never looked back in with 1-9 favourite Chillax De Vie ($2.20) in 2:00.1 for trainer Kenneth Andersen.
Beckwith went on to sweep the first three races as he steered Fashion Cantab ($5.40) to victory at 8-5 for trainer Symon Spicer. He got away third on the rail in the early stages but after the even-money favourite made a costly break from the lead, Beckwith found himself in the pocket spot. He made his move to take the lead just before the three-quarter pole and was able to trot away from them to win by more than seven lengths in 2:02.1.
The young driver returned for back-to-back wins in races seven and eight with two more wire-to-wire victories with Big Charlie Moran ($4.60) in 2:01.2 for trainer Paul Fusco and Badditude ($7.40) in 2:00 for trainer Izzy Estrada.
His final win was in race 10. He pulled from fourth on the rail after the second turn with 3-5 favourite Cinco Senorita ($3.40) to overtake the early leaders. But they weren’t going to let Beckwith snag win number six that easily; he remained parked for the remainder of the race but still found enough pace in the stretch to make it to the finish line first. The McKenzie Sowers trainee prevailed in 2:01.2.
So far this year, Beckwith has won 33 of 193 starts -- that’s 17 per cent of the time. He has finished on the board 86 times, in almost half of his starts. Beckwith will look to maintain these impressive stats this evening at the Meadowlands, where he will drive in 12 more races.
Live harness racing will return to Freehold on Saturday, Feb. 3. First post is 12:30 p.m.
(With files from Freehold Raceway)