Tag: Rich Fisher

Braxten Boyd is in a New York state of mind as he prepares to begin defense of his Tioga Downs driving championship when the track opens Saturday (May 3). Boyd posted 114 victories at Tioga last year to win the driving title by 27 triumphs over Michael Merton.

Gaining a 50th career victory after 13-plus years of driving may not seem like much to some folks. But for Matt Zuccarello, the timing could not have been better.

As breeder/owner Don Tiger eagerly awaits the 2025 debut of Charlie May in Saturday’s (March 1) $25,000 feature pace at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs, he couldn’t help but reflect on when his horse started racing. At that time in 2020, Tiger never dreamed that he had a horse with $2.27 million in purses coming his way.

Brett Beckwith doesn’t enjoy taking days off from driving, but he won’t mind doing so on Feb. 23. That is the evening when the U.S. Harness Writers Association holds its 2024 Dan Patch Awards banquet, presented by Caesars Entertainment, at Rosen Centre in Orlando, Fla. Beckwith will be an honoree when he receives the Rising Star Award after finishing second by one vote in 2023.

Harvey Fried never realized what a new sink, bathtub and toilet could do for him. Now in his 40th year as a Standardbred owner, the 77-year-old is enjoying success he could never imagine just five years ago. It started in 2021 when Fried got his first big-time horse, pacer Pebble Beach.

It’s safe to say William Carter is a tad ahead of where he thought he would be at this point in his career. “A hundred percent,” the 20-year-old Maryland driver said. “I didn’t know where I’d be. I thought I might still be cleaning stalls at this time.” Rather than cleaning stalls, he’s cleaning up to the tune of over $1.1 million in purse earnings through 1,114 starts this season.

As he came across the finish line for his first driving win, Lesley McDaniel was not only thinking about what he did, but who announced him doing it.

Donald Wiest rises at 5:30 a.m. every morning, feeds his mares and babies, enjoys breakfast, goes to the fairgrounds to train his two racehorses and returns home around 11:30 a.m. From there he watches races on TV to avoid the heat, and retires to bed after the 11 p.m. news. If that doesn’t sound like much, consider this. On Tuesday, Wiest turns 94.

Curt Harper became a harness racing driver the usual way. In the Bizarro World, that is. Harper grew up in a racing family, but his path took him from rugby player to kick boxing champion/gym owner to the sulky. He is likely the first person in harness racing history to have gone that route. That’s what happens when one will do anything to reach their goal.