While Mage may have taken the 149th Kentucky Derby, it was Oh K Man and driver Marc St. Louis, Jr. who scored in the Saturday night (May 6) $10,800 featured Open Handicap Pace at Northville Downs.
Hillsdale Daily News
HILLSDALE - A young man with drive to succeed in harness racing is making his mark in the form of horse racing still being observed throughout the country.
Braxten Boyd, 21, has been training horses for about three years. He has been driving horses for two years, earning a P license (pari-mutuel) in summer 2019.
He is the son of Mindy Eggleston and Brett Boyd, both of Hillsdale. He attended Jackson College from the fall 2018 through spring 2020. He played on the golf team there in the 2018-19 school year.
Growing up around the horses on his father s farm, Boyd knew he wanted to be in racing from about the time he was in kindergarten.
A trio of Open events serve as the marquee races during the opening weekend of the 2021 spring meeting at Northville Downs, with races taking place at the suburban Detroit facility on Friday (April 2) and Saturday (April 3) evenings.
Friday s co-features are the $8,000 Fillies and Mares Open Pace and the $8,000 Open Handicap Trot, slotted as the eighth and ninth races on an 11-race program.
In the distaff feature, Another Beach Day is the 8-5 morning line favourite after racing all winter at Florida s Pompano Park and will start from the pole in the field of seven. The five-year-old daughter of Somebeachsomewhere last won on March 9, defeating conditioned company at Pompano in 1:54.2 while under the care of Braxten Boyd. Braxten s dad, Brett, has assumed Another Beach Day s training duties, and Darrell Wright has been tabbed to drive.