Traveling Beckwith captures Philly feature

CHESTER PA – Brett Beckwith, a leading contender for this year’s Rising Star Award after a brilliant campaign on several fronts, made a stop at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Friday afternoon and promptly guided A Rocknroll Star, an altered son of A Rocknroll Dance, to harness racing victory in the $14,000 featured fast-class handicap pace, winning in 1:51 in frigid temperatures.

It was appropriate that the 21-year-old Beckwith won the headliner with a Robert Cleary trainee, since it was Cleary who put him down on the horses he had entered on Friday’s card, with the youngster gaining additional fill-in drives at scratch time. Here he kept A Rocknroll Star midpack early as Agedcheddar Hanover yielded to Virgo, seeking his fourth straight win, with Virgo defying the elements and racking up roaring fractions of :25.4, :54.3, and 1:22. A Rocknroll Star ranged up uncovered from midbackstretch and gained steadily on the leader, then responded to Beckwith urging to go by the pacesetter, who himself went a big mile, by a length, with Agedcheddar Hanover holding for third.

A ROCKNROLL STAR REPLAY

A horse who has enjoyed much success at Philly in recent times, A Rocknroll Star is owned by Howard Taylor and Zazo LLC.

Ridge Warren made all the right moves with the Heston Blue Chip gelding Park Street Blues to take one division of the $13,500 co-featured paces. Park Street Blues maintained the two-hole while Easy Lou blasted off from the rail in fractions of :27, :55.4, and 1:23, at the last-named station being joined by first-over Pyrenees Hanover. As the raw challenger looked to be getting the advantage on the turn Warren started to back up the winner to follow, but when favored Magnifico Hanover roared up three-wide, Park Street Blues was taken back to the inside and finished well to defeat Pyrenees Hanover by 1½ lengths in 1:52.2 for trainer Tee Wine and Wine Stable.

PARK STREET BLUES REPLAY

The other section of the co-feature class gave another showcase to the marauding Huntsville sophomore gelding Build The Wall, as he is now three-for-three locally after a 1:53 victory. Tim Tetrick came just at the :27.3 quarter to take over the lead from Ishotthesheriff GB, put up middle splits of :56.3 and 1:25.1, then stretched out during a :27.4 kicker with little apparent effort to leave the pocketsitter 3¼ lengths behind. A winner of nine of thirteen after being unraced at two, Build The Wall looks like a real comer for trainer Maria Reid and the ownership of Fusco Strong LLC and Peter Fusco Racing LLC.

BUILD THE WALL REPLAY

Tetrick won five races – all for different trainers – giving him 22 wins in his last six visits to Harrah’s; he also has a 20-win lead atop the drivers standings with ten cards to go as he seeks to wrap up his fourth straight local title. Simon Allard drove three winners, two for trainer Mark Akins, and Beckwith-Cleary also had a double.

The holidays came a little earlier for the backers of Perfectly Close, who posted an $80.20 upset in the fourth race, living up to his name in defeating Woodmere Dealer by  a neck. Trainer Chris(tmas?) Temming took the “bomber” lead at Philly with three $50+ wins; his last two were driven by Bradley Chisholm, who at three is now tied with Jonathan Ahle, Troy Beyer, and Jack Pelling in that drivers category. The fourth race has been the most likely spot for a big upset to happen, with six of the 31 $50+ horses at Philly in 2024 coming in that slot.

The racing week concludes Sunday at Philly with a 12:40 post, and the trotters and pacers will be providing the usual fall Thursday-Friday-Sunday action before the schedule shifts a bit for the last two holiday weeks of 2024. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

From the PHHA/Harrah’s Philadelphia