Patiences brings victory to young Beckwith

Able to sit tight and boxed in with no place to go, harness racing driver Brett Beckwith had to wait until the top of the stretch to find enough racing room with Keystone Dakota to capture the $15,000 Open Handicap Pace at Saratoga Raceway Saturday.

The sixth race feature started off with early lead changes by Veneno (Jim Devaux) and Crockets Cullen N (Larry Stalbaum) with Veneno winning out after the opening quarter mile in :27.3.

Veneno then cut the mile to the half in :57.2 as Hudson Phil (Billy Dobson) started up first-over, giving outside cover to Isaac (Phil Fluet) down the backstretch to the three-quarters in 1:25.4.

And all the while Brett Beckwith was boxed in with Keystone Dakota in fourth place on the rail.

As the field started down the stretch, Veneno started to bear to the outside off the rail as Crockets Cullen N filled the gap, but not enough that Beckwith was able to scoot into the passing lane with a :28.4 last quarter mile to win by a half-length in 1:55.1.

Veneno held on to second place with Crockets Cullen N third in the exciting stretch drive.

It was the first win of the year for Keystone Dakota, a six-year-old gelding by Art Major, who is trained by Beckwith’s mother, Melissa Beckwith for owner Howard Jacobs, of NJ. He paid $13.80 to win.

For full race results, click here.

By Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink