Beverly Park Wins His 14th Race of 2022

Beverly Park, the hardest-working horse in horse racing, came through again Monday, winning the fourth race at Mahoning Valley Race Course. Making his 29th start on the year, he won for the 14th time in 2022.

Beverly Park leads all horse in terms of wins on the year. Five horses are tied for second with eight wins each. His 29 starts also lead in that category with the runner-up, Pretty Loud (Boisterous), having started 27 times.

Sent off at 1-5 in the $17,600 starter allowance race for horses which have started for a claiming price of $5,000 or less in 2021-2022, Beverly Park broke sharply before dueling down the backstretch with Diamonds Enjoy (Kitten's Joy). He shook free approaching the turn and opened up on the field. But Flat Fun (Flat Out) closed strongly in the stretch to make the race close.

Beverly Park won by a diminishing neck. He paid $2.40. Apprentice Yan Aviles was aboard for the win. The running time for the six furlongs over a track listed as good was 1:13.

“He ran well,” owner-trainer Lynn Cash said. “The jockey might have gotten a little lackadaisical coming down the stretch. The jockey looked back two or three times. He looked back under each arm. I think the jockey got a little scare. If he had messed around and gotten beat that would have been really bad. But he dug back in and held that other horse off. The time wasn't that fast, but the track was slow. He broke sharper than he has in his last few races.”

There are just 19 days left on the year, but Cash said he will scour his collection of condition books and try to get another start into Beverly Park before 2022 concludes.

“I'll hope to get a race for him to go,” Cash said. “It comes down to that. He probably has one more start in him this year.”

Once 2023 begins, it will be harder for Cash to find races for his iron horse. Before he was claimed by Cash, Beverly Park ran in a $5,000 claiming race July 8, 2021. That race made him eligible at all tracks that card starter allowances for horses who have run at the $5,000 level in 2021 and 2022. At many tracks, with the start of the new year the conditions for the same races will be for horses that have started for $5,000 in 2022 and 2023. Cash said some tracks write starter races where horses are eligible if they have run for a certain price within two calendar years. That means he will be eligible for starter races at those tracks up until July of next year.

“When we run out of starter races for him, he's still eligible for two-other than allowances,” Cash said. “We'll probably start running in 'two other thans,' but those are tough races. We'll try to find spots for him.”

Cash said he will not run Beverly Park in claiming races, that the horse means too much to him to risk losing him to another stable.

“He'll probably run for another year and a half or so,” he said. “I don't have many mares, but at the very least I'll stand him at stud at my farm. His durability and his bullet-proofness, that's half the battle. His mother was a graded stakes winner and if he was six feet faster, he'd definitely be a sire. I'll never put him in a claiming race. I love this horse so much. Beverly Park is a part of Built Wright Stables. If I hadn't claimed him, nobody would know who I was.”