Brett, Brax and Billy get the headlines, but what about Adarryl and Zyler?
by John Berry
As you know, our sport is crying for new, young talent to carry our torch forward for generations to come.
Yes, we have Brett Beckwith, and, yes, we have Braxten Boyd, William Carter, and Marvin Luna, all of whom are in their early to mid-20s, getting the headlines these days for their heroics in the sulky and, of course, we wish Beckwith quick and complete healing from his recent injuries.
But that’s not even a handful of the future stars we need to keep harness racing in the limelight and the headlines for the next generations that, hopefully, will follow, whether they be caretakers, trainers, drivers or, as importantly, fans.
Beckwith, now 23, got his start, humbly, eight seasons ago and banked $25,000 and change for his owners.
Now, 2,187 wins later, he’s won over $22 million in purse money for those owners, before the dangers of harness racing finally encompassed him.
Boyd burst onto the scene from the ground up, too, earning $200 in purse money at the Montpelier Fair with Megatron years ago.
He just spiked over the $20 million mark and has well over 1,500 wins.
Carter began his quest at age 17 and is approaching 500 lifetime wins with over $3.4 million in purse money.
All were brought up around horses, and it shows.
Luna, now approaching age 25, burst on the scene in 2023 and has over $8 million in purses.
All had humble beginnings and have been raised to be respectful of their surroundings and competition.
The years seem to fly by faster than a 1:45.4 mile, don’t they?
I have lost many wonderful friends in this industry over the years — many by the inevitable, many by retirement.
It’s about 67 years since my first foray into our grand sport and over 62 years since my first writing appeared in the Horseman and Fair World — that being Feb. 4, 1964, ironically, the week Pompano Park opened.
The list of the folk I have seen come and go stretches almost from A-to-Z and numbers in the thousands.
Some are famous, some not-so, but all are horsemen and women with equally interesting tails — make that tales.
A short sampling includes the Abbatiello brothers, Tony Avenatti, Dave Bartlett, Peter Blood, Warren Cameron, Kelly Case, Coco Cormier, the Dancer clan, Chet Emerson, Bob Farrington, Clay Faurot, Loosh, Edgar Leonard, Buddy Gilmour, the Haughtons, Kim Hankins, of course, Wally Hennessey, Del Insko, Jackie Ingrassia, Jim King, Harold Kelly, Clifford and Opal King, Carl LeCause, Jo Ann (when she was Looney), Ken Lighthill, Merriman, Edith Mouw, Soren Nordin, Bruce Nickells, Billy O, Frank O’Mara, Joe O’Brien, Butch Paisley, Bill Popfinger, Dwayne Pletcher, Bob Quigley, Lou Rapone, Walter Ross, Curly Smart, Harold Snodgrass, Mel Turcotte, George Ursitti, Gene Vallandingham, Bob Williams, Ben Webster, Robert Yohn, Snake Willis, and Rick Zeron.
See, some famous, some, not so, some are still with us, but most are gone with the ages.
Ken Lighthill is mentioned above. He had the distinction of driving Scotsdam to a world record victory at Maywood Park on March 17, 1962.
With the track a quagmire as winter was in a battle with spring and the temperature hovered a degree of two either side of freezing. It took Scotsdam 3:38.3 — no misprint, 3:38.3 — to cover the mile dodging snowflakes, freezing raindrops, and a horrendous combination of precipitation.
Two nights later, Bob Farrington drove Great Northern to a win in 3:35.3 — last quarter 1:03.
Remember, that’s 1962 we’re talking about.
Yes, the years fly by and, all of a sudden, we are missing the many acquaintances and friends and history that have come and gone over the time to record a mile that will be forever known as the slowest pari-mutuel mile in history, and two nights later, the slowest final quarter.
It’s all part of our history, although few remember such incidents as time, somehow and sadly, erases it from history.
Soon, there will be nobody left to remember such a mile — make that milestone.
Yes, some have left us naturally and some have perished proving the danger of participation in a sport that offers possible tragedy every step of every mile when a horse and driver step onto the track, whether it be limestone, clay, or silt.
One false step can make the difference.
Mickey McNichol can tell you that from a spill just weeks ago.
Gentlemen like Billy Haughton, Shelly Goudreau, Wayne Smullen, Hal Belote, Hunter Myers, even Pop Geers a century ago, and many others all claimed by accidents.
And the recent incident in Ohio at Scioto proves that the invincible are not invincible.
And that is why I — make that we — must treasure our horses and horsemen every step of their long miles.
Yes, how the years fly by.
I remember Montrell Teague winning his very first pari-mutuel race.
It seems like yesterday, yet it was back in 2009, and Teague is 35 today.
Hopefully, he’s got three decades left in his star-studded career.
Timmy Tetrick will be 45 this semester and still will be at the top of his game in 10, 15, or 20 years.
Hennessey is just strides away from being 70 — although, being from Charlottetown, he claims to be only 21 Celsius.
Tony Morgan is approaching 68, Dave Palone is 64, David Miller is 62, Kevin Wallis will be 70 in a few months, Jack Moiseyev is 66, Peter Wrenn is 63, Bruce Ranger is 66, and the amazing Rick Plano is, 1:51.3 away from being 75.
This is just a small sampling of the desperate stage harness racing faces in replacing these great horsemen with generations that may — or may not — cast our future.
Who is next for stardom in harness racing?
Could it be McGwire Sowers, Trae Porter, Luke Hanners, Jacob Cutting, Kyle Cummings, Kyle Swift, Zach Vickerson, Koltin Noble, Tim Johnson, Jacob Baird, Kiwon Waldron from Bermuda, Case Bateson, Logan Coney, Ryder Skinner, Adarryl Gates, Jr., Lauren Harmon, Winter Asher-Stalbaum, Christian Myers, James Gould, Carson Conrad, Lucas Myers, Wyatt Farmer, Dylan Huckabone-Miller, Donald Coy, Danarius Dortch, Cornelius Stewart, O’darius Johnson, or Zyler Maxwell?
These are roughly half of the roster of participants in harness racing 25 years of age or younger.
Yes, they account for less than 1 per cent of the drivers and trainers in harness racing.
They are the future of our sport, and there are just not enough of them to sustain the number of tracks and races as we lose — one by one — our aging roster of drivers.
There are those that will give critical feedback once these words are read — but somebody better realize that we are not Major League Baseball or the NFL or the NBA or every other successful major sport that has a draft to bring along new talent.
Many of the above-named young drivers have serious talent, but we don’t have nearly enough of these young men and women to garner new headlines and subsequent stories about their success.
Gates, Jr., 25 years of age, is a Mississippi native plying his trade at Oak Grove Racing and Gaming and has been for the past five years.
He has 28 career wins and comes off of a .360 year winning 12 of 46 starts and finishing first, second or third in 21 of them.
His success this year has been at Oak Grove in USHDC events, where he works with his stable of four with the hopes of catching on at The Red Mile when they open in July.
Maxwell is 19, and has been driving winners — 79 thus far — in his five seasons.
He, too, is a Mississippi native that has recently driven horses like Just A Rocket Man and Timothy to wins at Oak Grove.
Farmer is a Chicago native who, at age 20, already can claim six seasons of solid credentials on the tough Ohio circuit.
Lucas Myers is a 25-year-old from Pennsylvania who is making waves in that state, approaching 150 lifetime wins and over $1,000,000 in purse earnings.
Gould is an Iowa native that has never been below .300 for a batting average over his career stretching back to 2019, when he was 16.
Skinner is 18 years old and has been trying to break through at Dover Downs and Harrington with recent wins with Bikini Miki and a sharp score with Warrens Charm in a $50,950 stake at Dover.
This is just a sampling of the great talent that awaits the future of our sport.
Yes, these are just a few of the thousand or more we need to insure that harness racing has a future — a lucrative future — for drivers, trainers, owners and, of course, our most important commodity — our fans.
May The Horse Be With You!
