Brent MacGrath most certainly has his mind on Somebeachsomewhere today. For more than one reason.
MacGrath is, of course, synonymous with the late, great Somebeachsomewhere, who was foaled 18 years ago today on May 25, 2005. And MacGrath was planning to have 2022 O'Brien Award finalist Beach Glass — a son of Somebeachsomewhere from that stallion's final crop — back in action by this point in the 2023 racing season. But while most of harness racing's top four-year-old pacers were in action competing the past two Sundays in the eliminations and final of the Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup, Beach Glass and his trainer watched from the sidelines.
According to MacGrath, Beach Glass should hopefully start to train down in a couple of weeks. The four-year-old has been battling complications from a prior surgery, but scoped well earlier this week.
No timetable has been established for a return to action for Beach Glass, but MacGrath indicated that the pacer has been kept eligible for stakes races later in the season. Those races include the Dayton Pacing Derby, the Allerage and the Breeders Crown.
"I'll get him ready and race him just in the Breeders Crown," MacGrath told Trot Insider. "He's that kind of horse. I don't think there's anything that can pace with him."
Owned by Truro's Schooner II Stable, Beach Glass (Somebeachsomewhere - Im With Her) sports a summary of 12-4-0 from 18 career starts with $1,187,416 in earnings and a mark of 1:47.2 taken at The Meadowlands in 2022. He was the fastest sophomore in harness racing last year and there are questions if he was, in fact, at 100 percent in that Meadowlands Pace victory. As much as MacGrath would like to show the world just what kind of horse he thinks Beach Glass is, one fact is abundantly clear: the welfare of the horse, now and always, comes first.
"I want to show what he's all about...but, I'm not going to put him on the track unless I'm 100 percent satisfied with him."
Beach Glass
It's unfortunate that Beach Glass most likely won't race at The Meadowlands in 2023, or ever again, and if he races at Mohawk, it won't be for anything more than a Free For All. I'm surprised that he wasn't kept eligible for The Fan Duel, which isn't held until late November, a month after The Breeders Crown.