Growing up on Long Island, Albert Fried Jr. started riding horses, he says, when he was about 10 years old, in the early 1940s. A talented horseman even at that young age, within a few years he was given an assignment that, if a little hyperbole can be forgiven, may well have changed the course…
I adopted Giant Moon late. When he was a three-year-old, I was obsessed with Saratoga Russell; they raced against each other in the 2008 Gotham. Saratoga Russell finished next to last, Giant Moon right behind him. Undeterred, Giant Moon’s connections – owner Albert Fried, Jr. and trainer Rick Schosberg – brought the son of Giant’s…
How do I love thee, New York Showcase Day? Let me count the ways! Tomorrow at Belmont Park is all about New York, on and off the track. And having spent all but 10 years of my life here, I am rather an unabashed cheerleader for all things Empire State. (OK, maybe not all things.…
Rick Schosberg has trained Giant Moon since his first start as a two-year-old, in September of 2007. Giant Moon won that race, and his next three, all New York-bred stakes races. Schosberg has seen him through wins and losses, through injuries and setbacks. He knows his horse. But yesterday at Saratoga, Giant Moon showed his…
“I’d rather have this than a Rangers’ win.” So said Rick Schosberg following Giant Moon’s win in the Grade III Excelsior on April 4th at Aqueduct. And shortly after Giant Moon finished last in his turf début at Belmont and the Rangers had blown a 3-1 series lead over the Washington Capitals to lose in…
On Saturday, the hockey and the horse racing gods collaborated to allow fans like me to indulge both of our passions without too much conflict. The Rangers-Bruins game started at 1:00, and barring overtime, would be finished well before the scheduled 4:13 start of the stakes races at Aqueduct. I thus took advantage of the…
Brooklyn Backstretch 