Back in March, the Melissa Beckwith-trained Carolina Beach (Somebeachsomewhere) won his debut in the Open Pace at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The gelding was only lightly raced in 2017 but has put together a strong four year old campaign here in ’18. On Saturday night, Carolina Beach went off at odds of 7-2 while starting from post three in just his third try while competing in the $14,500 Open. After working hard in a 26.4 first quarter, Mark Beckwith gave Carolina Beach a bit of a second quarter breather before reaching the half in 55.4. From there, Carolina Beach drew away from his rivals to win by five and a half lengths in 1:51.2, a new lifetime mark in just the 31ststart of his career. Chumlee A (Larry Stalbaum) was the race’s favorite and had to settle for a second-place finish while longshot Manny (Phil Fluet) earned the show spot. Carolina Beach, who went four-for-eight in the win column in ’17, has now recorded eight victories in his sixteen seasonal starts in 2018. Carolina Beach paid $9.00 to win in the mild upset and led an exacta and triple that came back $24.20 and $141.50, respectively.
Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga with a matinee beginning at 12:15pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
