by Debbie Little

When it comes to drivers’ comeback songs at The Meadowlands, sorry Led Zeppelin, but the song remains the same is not always applicable.

Take The Big M’s leading driver for the meet, Brett Beckwith, who began the year with one song —Can’t Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers — but flipped to another on Jan. 31.

“Honestly, I wanted to switch it up and I have a really good friend of mine, and I was asking him what song I should switch to, and he goes ‘You got to use Who Let The Dogs Out because you got that dog in you.’

“I’ve had a lot of mixed reviews so far. Most don’t seem to like it, but I laugh when it plays, so it is what it is.”

This wasn’t the only song change for Beckwith, whose first Big M song choice back in 2022, Pursuit of Happiness by Kid Cudi, was replaced in the end of 2023 by Can’t Stop.

Although Beckwith said he’s superstitious, and therefore may have waited a bit on changing up the song, he’s happy so far with results as he won three that first night and five for the weekend.

“I’m very superstitious,” Beckwith said. “Thankfully, I’m not as much as I used to be, but I was shooting a little bad at the time and I wasn’t really winning much and I was like, you know what, it’s time to switch it up.”

One driver that has not changed his song is Scott Zeron, who explained why to HRU back in 2022.

“Scotty’s got by far the best song because everyone calls him the money man,” Beckwith said of Zeron using Pink Floyd’s Money. “That song is like a perfect match to a person.”

Patrick Ryder, who just made his first song choice last weekend, agrees with Beckwith about Zeron’s song.

“I love the beginning of that song; it’s so cool in the beginning,” Ryder said. “What’s funny, when I first started driving… I heard that song at The Meadowlands, and before I ever heard that that was Scott’s song, that was the one that I thought was the coolest one. The sound of the coins clicking and stuff, I thought, that’s so cool.”

Ryder, who had been taking his time making his song decision, had also been getting suggestions from others for songs including the word rider. In addition to songs like Riders On The Storm and Midnight Rider, driver John Calabrese suggested Low Rider.

“That song that John Calabrese said to me, it’s good for having the last name Ryder, but I don’t really like the song. I was like, I can’t pick a song I don’t like,” Ryder said. “I don’t want to just take something super generic and lame, either.”

Ryder favors electronic dance music.

“The problem is, all the music that I listen to, for the most part, doesn’t have a ton of words in it,” Ryder said. “I listen to house music and dubstep and dance type music where there are not a ton of words.”

After listening to a bunch of songs, Ryder said he finally settled onTurn On The Lights Again by Fred again, which he hopes will be with him for a while.

Unlike his brother, Andy, who last year changed to his third song — Thickfreakness by The Black Keys — Todd McCarthy is still going strong with Cardi B’s I Like It.

“I heard the song not long after I got here [to the U.S. from Australia] and liked it,” Todd said. “I thought it had a cool beat and it just stuck.”

Although the comeback music has become synonymous with The Meadowlands, it’s not where it started.

“I believe I had originally heard the music with drivers at Hoosier Park several years ago and thought we should be doing that here as well,” said Meadowlands chief operating officer/general manager Jason Settlemoir. “Then I got an email from Jeffrey [Gural] saying the same thing I had just thought about, so we instituted it here at The Big M as well.

“It’s actually pretty cool when the winning horse and driver are headed to the winner’s circle, and I hear customers all the time start singing the song as they come back. I think the most popular ones right now are John Ahle’s, Johnny B. Goode, and Brett Beckwith’s, Who Let The Dogs Out. I just smile now as it’s caught on with the on-track customers.”

In a way, getting a personalized comeback song is a bit of a reward for winning often enough at the track and drivers who don’t yet win on a regular basis no longer come back in silence. The Meadowlands now has instrumental music that is played for anyone not having their own song.

“My dad [Chris Ryder] calls it elevator music,” Patrick said.

The instrumental music is also played on Hambletonian Day and Meadowlands Pace Night when the track is on network TV.

“As far as the generic music goes, we always want some kind of music or chatter in the background as I can’t stand dead silence while we are on air,” Settlemoir said.

And for any interested, we now have the answer to Who Let The Dogs Out?

“My good friend, Carl, is the one who told me to make it that song,” Beckwith said. “He’s my only friend that’s outside the business. Knock on wood, it’s been pretty good the last few weeks.”

For The Big M meet which started on Jan. 1, Beckwith currently has 43 wins through Friday (March 21), putting him five up on David Miller (38) in second, with Jason Bartlett (37) in third.

Although Beckwith is sitting at the top of The Big M standings right now, he said he doesn’t know how long it will last, especially since he got off to a rocky start.

“If you asked me at the start of this year [if I’d be on top], I would have laughed,” he said. “I mean, I was a 4 per cent driver at the start of the year. I was getting my head kicked in.”

As for whether the song change has made a difference he said, “Every now and then you’ve got to let the dog out.”