Brett Beckwith has done his best to take advantage of his opportunities this year, and the 21-year-old driver will look to do so again when he drives Ken Hanover in the $250,000 USD Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial for older male pacers at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Saturday, July 20.
Beckwith ranks No. 2 in wins among all drivers in North America, with 374, and is the leading driver at Saratoga and Plainridge Park. His horses have earned $4.28 million in purses, good for 14th place in North America, and Beckwith’s career-high .354 driver rating is sixth.
Last year, only Beckwith’s third full season in the sulky, he established career highs with 453 wins and $4.40 million in purses.
“I’ve been blessed with so many opportunities this year,” Beckwith said. “After last year, I didn’t know if it would get much better, or if it even would get better. I just ended up starting this year with a bang and it’s been carrying over ever since.
“I credit a lot of it to work ethic. There are not many people that are going to outwork me. You can be as talented as you want in this game, but talent can only take you so far. You’ve got to have the right opportunity at the right time. I can name five other guys off the top of my head that if they had the same opportunities would have done just as well. I’ve been very fortunate.”
For the Gerrity, Beckwith picked up the drive with Ken Hanover after Tyler Buter — who had his choice from among three horses including Ken Hanover — opted for Backstreet Shadow. A winner of $1.73 million lifetime, the top figure in the eight-horse field, Backstreet Shadow will start from post one. Horses leaving from post one at Saratoga win at a 23.3-percent rate, the best mark at the half-mile oval by eight percentage points.
Ken Hanover will leave from post six, which has a win rate of 9.2 percent.
“Post position at Saratoga is just so important,” said Buter, who won the 2014 Gerrity with Dancin Yankee. “It’s a numbers game, for sure. And I’ve got a little more history with Backstreet’s owner (NY Seb Inc.).”
Backstreet Shadow has competed once previously in the Gerrity, finishing third in 2021. The nine-year-old gelding, trained by Daniel Renaud, heads to Saturday’s start off a third-place finish at Yonkers Raceway, where he was timed in 1:51 with a race-best :26.4 last quarter. Earlier in the season, he posted a win, a second, and two thirds in the preliminary rounds of the MGM Borgata Pacing Series.
Buter will be driving Backstreet Shadow, who is 6-1 on the morning line, for the first time.
“I’ve raced with him a lot at Yonkers, so I know the horse pretty well,” Buter said. “It’s a little different with a two-year-old; they’re going to have their quirks or tendencies. With an aged horse, they’ve been around the track as many times as I have. You just have to steer them in the right direction. He’s a very classy horse.”
Ken Hanover is the 3-1 second choice on the morning line. He won a preliminary round of the Graduate Series for four-year-old pacers in 1:47.4 on June 22 at The Meadowlands and finished sixth from post nine in the final on July 6. He was second in the Joseph Auger Memorial at Harrah’s Philadelphia in May and third in the Dave Brower Memorial the last weekend of June.
“I got lucky to pick him up,” Beckwith said. “It looks like he can compete well with this group. It looks like it’s going to be a good race, just with how the draw went. It’s going to be action packed.”
Coaches Corner, starting from post two with Jason Bartlett driving for trainer Per Engblom, is the 5-2 favourite. He last raced on June 15 in the Gold Cup at Woodbine Mohawk Park, where he finished sixth. Earlier in the season, he was second in the Borgata Series final and Battle of Lake Erie. He was third in the Auger Memorial.
Desperate Man, who drew post eight for driver Matt Kakaley and trainer Travis Alexander, is the 4-1 third choice. He won an invitational at Yonkers in 1:50.3 in his most recent outing on July 8. He won four preliminary rounds of the Borgata and finished third in the final. He also was third in the Battle of Lake Erie, when he made an early break and dropped 14-1/4 lengths behind at the quarter but missed by only three-quarters of a length at the finish.
Borgata Series and Camluck Classic winner Hellabalou is 9-2 on the morning line. He will leave from post seven with Jordan Stratton driving for trainer Ron Burke. He is the only returnee from last year’s Gerrity, when he finished third.
Beckwith, who is appearing in the Gerrity for the second time, figures to see a lot of horses flashing early speed in an attempt to get good position.
“With these really good horses, it’s tough nowadays to win from too far off the pace,” Beckwith said. “You can have whatever game plan you want, but at the end of the day, when you reach races like this with these top-level horses, all of them can carry their speed. It’s all about giving your horse the most ideal trip possible to have a late run at it.
“I think this is going to be a really good race for the fans to watch.”
Racing begins at 5 p.m. (EDT) Saturday at Saratoga. The Gerrity is race 10, with an 8 p.m. approximate post time. The full field for the Gerrity is listed below.
$250,000 USD Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace
Post - Horse - Listed Driver - Trainer
1. Backstreet Shadow - Tyler Buter - Daniel Renaud
2. Coaches Corner - Jason Bartlett - Per Engblom
3. Pleaseletmeknow - Mark MacDonald - Travis Alexander
4. Rocknroll Runa A - Larry Stalbaum - Larry Stalbaum
5. Ervin Hanover - Tyler Buter - Jeff Cullipher
6. Ken Hanover - Tyler Buter - Roland Mallar
7. Hellabalou - Joe Bongiorno - Ron Burke
8. Desperate Man - Matt Kakaley - Travis Alexander
(USTA)