by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — For Judge Anthony “Tony” Beltrami, the rush is worth the risk.

The man who told everyone as a little kid that he wanted to be a harness driver finally made his childhood dream come true in 2014 when he got in the sulky for a competitive race.

At age 51.

Once that happened, he had to pursue a second dream of actually winning a race, which came to pass last month. After going 0-for-27 in his first three seasons, the 54-year-old drove Chris Marino-trained Seafood Mike to victory in a Feb. 17 amateur race at the Meadowlands.

To say he was thrilled would be an understatement. But it was a different kind of excitement than what he felt in his first race in ’14.

Lisa photo

Tony Beltrami won for the first time with the Chris Marino-trained Seafood Mike in a Feb. 17 amateur race at the Meadowlands.

“I would describe it as a tunnel vision; you just see a small area,” he said. “You just think ‘Oh my God I hope I don’t get killed.’ The first couple of races you are so nervous and it is such an adrenalin rush; that you do go into that fight or flight mode. I thought ‘Why am I doing this?’”

His mom, Elaine, and his brothers all have the same question. But like any good judge, Tony provides a fair and honest summation.

“It is risky, I am conscious of that,” he said. “But it’s just something once you hear the starter say ‘Line them up;’ it’s a great rush.”

Not only is it a rush, it’s a release.

Many people talk about “the real world” as if they understand it when they are actually on the fringes. But now in his 11th year as a judge for Northampton County Court of Common Pleas, where he presides over civil and criminal trials and juvenile delinquency and dependency matters, Beltrami is at the core of an oft-times gritty and disheartening world that’s more real than most could ever imagine.

So he turns to driving horses.

“In my job you need an outlet; it can get depressing at times,” he said. “I see things that most people don’t see in terms of the crime, the child abuse, the dysfunctional families, the break-ups, the divorces. That is depressing.”

Whereas harness racing has always been just the opposite — satisfying and sometimes exhilarating.

It started for Tony while growing up in Drums, Pa., where his dad, Louis “Booty” Beltrami, who passed away last September, was in the coal business but was also an amateur driver.

“My mom’s joke was always that my three brothers and I could read a program before we could read a book because we just all loved harness racing from the time I was very little,” the judge said. “When I was a kid I used to say I wanted to be a harness driver. And my parents would say ‘You’re not being a harness driver.’ People would ask me ‘What do you want to do when you grow up’ and I said ‘Be a harness driver.’ And they’d say ‘What is that?’”

Undaunted, Tony got a job working for the late Earl Beal, who went on to become president of the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association and is the namesake of the $500,000 Earl Beal Memorial Trot. He worked for a few other trainers as well while attending Penn State University and Touro Law Center on Long Island. He clung to the dream of being a fulltime Standardbred man until graduating near the top of his class in law school.

“After that I said ‘This would be crazy,’” Tony said with a laugh.

Thus, he clerked for a Northampton County judge before opening his own law practice and also serving as a part-time district attorney. After practicing law for 15 years he was elected to a 10-year term as judge in 2006 and, once his term was up last year, got retained for another 10 years.

With four children and a successful career to focus on, Beltrami maintained contact with harness racing by owning horses since 1985. He had varying degrees of success, most notably with stakes-winning trotter Invincible Dream.

“I did a lot of stuff with claiming, and then got into the stakes horses,” he said.

Now living in Bethlehem, Pa., the judge got the training/driving bug five years ago after Wingate Farms opened in Wind Gap, Pa., which is not far from his Bethlehem home. He knew some trainers there, quickly got his training and driving licenses and, “any time I had a day off I would go up there and jog and train as many horses as I could.”

And all those youthful urges came rushing back.

“I got the bug, and I thought ‘I just have to see what it’s like to drive in a race,’” Tony said. “When you set a goal for yourself you just have to do it. I spent a lot of hours practicing to get my license.”

He finally lived out the boyhood dream in 2014 but was shut out in four starts. He was back in 2015 and went 0-for-7.

“I was driving bad horses,” Beltrami said. “I started out just driving my own. I had one trotter I owned that wasn’t that great.”

So, what kept him going?

“I’ve been a huge fan of harness racing my whole life,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to drive in races. It was something where I’d gone this far, I wanted to get my first win.”

Tony remained winless in 16 starts in 2016, but things were starting to come around as he had three seconds and three thirds.

“At the end of the year last year, I have a pacing mare, I drove her a couple times at (Harrah’s Philadelphia) against the real drivers and I had two seconds,” the judge said. “I should have won the one race where I made a mistake. That’s where I said ‘I think I’m OK, I think I can do this.’

“This year was the first year I thought I could look around, see what’s going on and feel really, really comfortable out there, which is a big difference. I think it’s finally clicked. It takes a while for you to get comfortable out there.”

Comfort turned to elation at the Meadowlands when he finally got that first win with Seafood Mike last month. The horse drew the six hole and went off at 5-1. It’s only fair we let the judge tell his success story.

“I got away near the back of the pack, and I just got into the outer flow third over, and around the three-quarter pole kicked three wide and came from pretty far back,” he said. “ It was really exciting.

“The horse felt good. I felt like I had a live horse. I didn’t want to pull three wide early. I was able to wait as long as I could. At the Meadowlands if you pull too early it’s never good. So it just worked out I didn’t have to go three wide until late. He had pace the whole mile.”

As he came across the line, it was an emotion like no other, but mixed with a twinge of sadness.

“I just couldn’t believe I actually won to be honest with you,” Beltrami said. “The stretch is so long I just didn’t think I was going to get there but I knew I had a lot of horse, and he kept trying and trying. It was a great feeling, but I was just sorry my dad didn’t see my first win. He’s the one who got me into the sport.”

The win boosted Tony’s confidence so much that less than a month later he drove Scirocco Jakob to first place at the Meadowlands after the horse went off at 55-1. That caught the attention of Anthony Mantegna in Atlantic City.

“I got a really nice hand-written note from him that said ‘Congratulations on your hundred dollar winner, I thought you might like this,’ and it was a printout of a program page from 1975,” Beltrami said. “He said ‘This was the horse your dad drove for me in his first win.’ I thought that was really cool.”

With two wins under his belt (along with one second and one third this year), the judge feels his driving career is just beginning, much to the chagrin of Elaine. Tony noted with a chuckle that “My mom said ‘You got your first win, would you retire now? You have your winner’s photo. Can’t you just frame that and move on.’”

That doesn’t seem likely. A strict practitioner of yoga and cross fit, Beltrami feels he is in great shape. His plan is to continue driving, and to own and train horses upon his retirement while also driving some of them on occasion. He owns one horse now — Go For Sand — that he jogs at his farm.

When it was suggested he is an inspiration to men who are 50 or over, the judge insisted he is not a symbol, just a guy out to have a good time.

“I’m not really doing it to prove anything to anybody,” he said. “I just do it for the actual enjoyment of the sport. I just really enjoy it. I don’t ever feel like I’m over the hill. I always feel like I’m still young in my mind. It’s just a matter of keeping my body in shape.”

It’s the best way to cut down the risks and enjoy the reward of the rush.