In the weeks leading up to the World Driving Championship Brett Beckwith says there isn’t a day he isn’t thinking about it.
“Personally this is the biggest race or event for me,” the 22-year-old American says, “honestly it’s something I’m looking forward to every day.”
He describes the chance to wear the Stars and Stripes at a WDC as “super exciting”.
Beckwith has been a huge mover in harness racing in the USA in recent years.
In 2024 he was the winner of the Dan Patch “Rising Star” award after a year that saw him drive 608 winners and accrue more than $US6.2m in stakes.
Included in his 2025 highlights has been reigning five winners in Pennsylvania one weekend and then six the very next in Massachusetts.
Known as ‘Double B’, Beckwith is in his fifth year of driving. He is a third generation horseman following on from his parents and grandparents. By late September his mother Melissa has trained 170 winners worth stakes of around $1.5m in 2025.
“If you asked me four or five years ago, I’d say my career is light years ahead of where I thought it would be right now,” Beckwith said in a recent interview.
“But I don’t have much time to reflect on any of my achievements because I’m always chasing the next one. So, for now, it’s going to be the six-to-seven-day-a-week grind racing.”
At the WDC he’s looking forward to “competing with the best”.
“I’m confident in my ability as a driver just have to get lucky to drive the right horses.”
He rates the likes of seven-time New Zealand champion Blair Orange as the ones to beat.
“It’s going to be a giant learning curve with the difference in style but hopefully I can adapt,” says Beckwith, “the local boys have the advantage. Other than them beating James MacDonald is always tough.”
MacDonald, the Canadian champion, is one of two past WDC champions who will be in New Zealand this November. He won in 2017, four years after Frenchman Pierre Vercruysee. Both won their titles on home soil.
For Beckwith this is the furthest he’s ever been from home and can’t wait for the 14,000 kilometre trip from New York to New Zealand.
“I’m super excited and New Zealand looks like a phenomenal place.”
