
Trenton, NJ — Brett Beckwith doesn’t enjoy taking days off from driving, but he won’t mind doing so on Feb. 23. That is the evening when the U.S. Harness Writers Association holds its 2024 Dan Patch Awards banquet, presented by Caesars Entertainment, at Rosen Centre in Orlando, Fla. Beckwith will be an honoree when he receives the Rising Star Award after finishing second by one vote in 2023.
When he takes the podium, don’t expect any fumbling through some prepared notes.
“I’m gonna go with the flow,” the 22-year-old said. “One thing about me, I like public speaking. I’ve got no speech, I’m just gonna wing it.”
It will probably be a crowd pleaser, since Beckwith enjoys a true gift of gab. And with the way his career has gone, he has a lot to talk about.

After enjoying what he considered his breakthrough year in 2023, the third-generation horseman built on that success last season.
Beckwith set career highs in starts (3,102), wins (608, third in North America), seconds (506), thirds (437) and earnings ($6.27 million). His career purse totals are worthy of Rising Star status as they have risen each year after starting with $1.03 million in his first full season in 2021. They doubled the next two seasons and increased by nearly $2 million last year.
His victories and UDR followed suit, as his four fulltime seasons have featured 113 wins, .202 UDR in 2021; 230 wins, .266 UDR in ‘22; 452 wins, .286 UDR in ‘23; and a .334 UDR in ‘24.
As a result, he will receive the same honor as his uncle, Richie Silverman, who was the first Dan Patch Rising Star Award winner in 1986.
“I didn’t even know that until just recently,” Beckwith said. “I thought that was pretty cool.”
He has the same thoughts about his own award.
“It’s a huge honor,” Beckwith said. “You look at anyone who’s ever received that award, they’ve always gone on to have pretty tremendous careers.”
Beckwith’s success has been forecasted for some time now.
At the 2019 Dan Patch Award banquet, retired trainer Jerry Silverman gave a speech prior to his Hall of Fame induction. In it, he acknowledged his 16-year-old grandson, saying “Watch out for a new one on the market, a young fella named Brett Beckwith. He’s here to stay.”
There may have never been a truer forecast.
“I’m gonna have to give my grandfather a shout-out in my speech for sure,” Beckwith said. “He probably had more faith in me than I did back then.”
Silverman was one of the first in a successful Standardbred family. His daughter — and Brett’s mom — Melissa has trained 2,423 winners. His son Richie went from rising star to star, and Brett’s dad, Mark, has 5,896 driving wins. Mark’s late father, Bert, was one of New England’s most respected horsemen of the 20th century.
Brett has taken a little from everybody and has never looked at living up to the family name as pressure. To the contrary, he finds it helpful.
“By far,” Beckwith said. “Without the opportunities I’ve gotten from my dad I’m not sure where I’d be. With the last name he’s a well-respected horseman, especially at Saratoga. A last name can go a long way.”
A lifetime New Yorker, Beckwith considers Saratoga his home track (but far from his only one) and his main trainers there have been his dad and Jackie Greene. He’s also getting horses from Jaymes McAssey and Gary Levine. In 2024 he was Saratoga’s leading driver with 306 wins and more than $2.4 million in purses.
“The Saratoga title meant a lot to me, because I got to do it with my dad,” Beckwith said. “It also meant a lot because I was at Plainridge every single day over there. I probably missed about 20 race cards at Saratoga, and I still managed to win that.”
As for his other favorite achievements last year, “There was a sire stakes day where I won eight, that was a fun day. And probably the Massachusetts Sire Stakes win for my dad. It caught everyone by surprise. It caught me by surprise. I didn’t think (3-year-old male pacer O’er The Ramparts) had a shot to really win.”
Beckwith’s time at Plainridge was well spent as he shared the track dash title with Bruce Ranger (166 wins) and was the leader in purses ($2,527,868).

He won on the Grand Circuit driving Papis Pistol to first in a preliminary leg of the Kindergarten Classic Series at the Meadowlands, a track where he finished 12th in the dash standings despite having less starts than the majority of those ahead of him.
Winning at The Big M will always be special to the Saratoga resident.
“I don’t care what anyone says, at the end of the day, pound for pound that is the hardest track to win a race, whether you’re 1-9 or 900-to-1,” Beckwith said. “Obviously 10-horse fields play a huge factor. You’ve got 10 guys who want to win every single race.
“And you have to drive the track the right way. It’s not a place you’re gonna want to launch out of there and loop the gate right away. I’ve found myself doing that a couple times.”
New Jersey also provided success for Beckwith in the final season at Freehold, where he finished seventh in the dash standings. Back in New York he was third in wins at Batavia’s winter meet and he also had some drives at Yonkers. If possible this year, he hopes to parlay Friday nights at the Meadowlands into Saturday races at Pocono.
“I figure I might as well give it a shot, we’ll see,” he said. “That’s a hard place to break into.”
Beckwith, who has 41 wins and nearly $325,000 in earnings this season, has no problem with a busy schedule. He gave himself an occasional Wednesday off in 2024 but said, “This year, the way the schedule is, I can go seven days a week all year. That’s probably what I’ll do.”
He is young enough to handle such a grind, but it comes down to more than that.
“It’s a mix of three things,” Beckwith said. “One, I’m ultracompetitive and I love to race. It’s my job but I love it.
“Two, it’s my work ethic. You can have all the talent in the world but if you’ve got no work ethic, you ain’t gonna go anywhere.
“Three, I’m a very healthy person. I’m super health-conscious about everything. My diet (of red meat, fruit, honey and raw dairy) is probably more on point than 99 percent of the people in the business. When I go to tracks, I pack food, I go to the gym five times a week, I’m very religious when it comes to that.”
In fact, during his rare down time, he fills it with healthy activities.
“My free time is usually consumed by the gym,” he said. “Or, since I eat healthy, I like to go to a lot of nice dinners if I get a chance to.”
Beckwith could eat up all the plaudits he receives to the point where it expands his head. Brett has been called the sport’s next superstar but does not let it alter his personality as he remains modest.
“The sport definitely keeps you humble,” he said. “If you watch the Meadowlands the last two weeks, I’m a four percent driver there getting my head kicked in week after week.”
During the more frequent times when he’s not getting his head kicked in, it’s in his nature to downplay his success.
“I just know how good some of the horses are that I drive,” Beckwith said. “Most of the time when you win a race, if you’re gonna drive for Ron Burke, Linda Toscano, those kinds of people, they could put anyone down and win a race for the most part. A lot of it’s horsepower. It’s really nothing special. There’s some good drivers and great drivers. When it’s a great trainer, a good driver and a great driver can win.”
Beckwith’s humbleness can also be attributed to the fact that he is never satisfied. He has 1,450 career wins and $14.3 million in purses but will always seek higher numbers.
“I’m happy with where I’m progressing but obviously, like most, I’m never as content as I should be,” he said. “I guess it’s just the competitive nature. It’s never enough. You always want more. So you end up striving to get more wins, more starts.
“I like to say I’m proud but not satisfied.”