Young Beckwith wins first Open Pace

Young reinsman Brett Beckwith has enjoyed a solid freshman harness racing season in the sulky at Saratoga Casino Hotel this year and on Saturday night, the 18 year old drove his first winner in a local Open.

Beckwith has been the regular pilot for Quagmire Bluechip (Art Major) throughout the summer and the five year old has enjoyed some success in the Open Pace at the Spa. Coming into Saturday’s try in the $16,000 Open,

Quagmire Bluechip had two second-place finishes and a pair of thirds in his last six starts. Almost every week, he has been a longshot in the feature. In Saturday’s nine-horse Open, Quagmire Bluechip did what he always does and took back in the early going.

The favorite was on the front-end and faltered opening the door for a host of closers to have a shot in the stretch. When the dust settled, it was Quagmire Bluechip who reigned supreme stopping the timer in a lifetime-best 1:53 to give Beckwith his first career victory in a local Open.

Dismissed at odds of 14-1, Quagmire Bluechip paid $30 to win and led an exacta with fellow longshot Machiatto A (Jay Randall) that came back $228.50. The triple was completed by Lake Charles (Greg Merton) and returned a hefty $2,538 in a race which was a longshot bettor’s delight.

Quagmire Bluechip, whose win was his fifth of the year, is owned by the Abbott and Costello Stable of Clinton, NY and trained by Janice Connor.

QUAGMIRE BLUECHIP REPLAY

The co-featured Fillies and Mares Open went the way of Robyn Camden (Art Professor). The Rob Harmon-trained distaffer has always thrived when she’s come to town, winning at a high percentage whenever she ships into the Spa to compete in the Open over the course of the last few years.

On Saturday, she left a bit in the six-horse Open for the ladies and got away fourth before following the live cover of Miss Irish Rose A (Larry Stalbaum) past the half.

After Miss Irish Rose A cleared the lead, Robyn Camden set her sights on the new leader and gunned her down in the stretch to record the victory in 1:53.4. It was win number six on the season for Robyn Camden who is owned by Jason O’Sullivan of Dublin, Ireland.

Robyn Camden was driven to victory by Jay Randall who came up just shy of sweeping the double feature after finishing second in the “boys” Open with Machiatto A.

ROBYN CAMDEN REPLAY

Live racing resumes on Monday afternoon at Saratoga with a first post time of noon.

For full race results, click here.

by Mike Sardella, for Saratoga Raceway