The best of the performers on the Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes circuit this summer will clash in eight $25,000 USD divisional championships on Monday, Oct. 13 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.

Three of last year’s four fair champions as two-year-olds are back to attempt to double up on their titles. Lionheart Hanover and Milagro — both from the Tony and Linda Schadel barn — have been the top performers of the whole fair circuit on their respective gaits. The third, Sweet Parlay, had not won a fair race until two weeks ago, but he stamped himself as a contender with a pair of powerhouse miles.

One of the Schadels’ defending champions is the Greenshoe-Lady Riviera trotting gelding Lionheart Hanover, who posted the most wins of any fair horse this year, 13, and also recorded the fastest fair mile on the trot, 1:58.2. He will be starting from the rail in the 12th race, and the Schadels have engaged Pocono’s leading driver, Tyler Buter, to handle the gelding and other Championship horses from their barn.

A win by Lionheart Hanover would have special meaning, as Lionheart Hanover was the seasonal points leader (based on finishes throughout the summer season) and the Championship winner at two, and he also led his group in points at three. Should he pull off the “double double,” Lionheart Hanover would be the first trotter and only second horse in the history of the fair program to do so. The other was pacing filly Bettor Strait N Up in 2021-2022, who was also campaigned by Tony and Linda Schadel.

The Schadels will join again with Buter to try to take the sophomore pacing filly title. Milagro, a daughter of Always B Miki-Thecrowdiswatching, notched 12 successes over the summer, and eight of them were in 2:00 or less, by far the best total recorded in this speed category. The filly also set the speed record for her division last year. The leading pacer of any stripe as a point winner, Milagro will begin from post six in the 11th race.

Sweet Parlay was last year’s two-year-old pacing colt champion, but this season he had not even won in limited fair campaigning – until two weeks ago. Then, he exploded: the Sweet Lou-Parlee Beach gelding won at Meadville in 1:57.4, the fastest mile ever at that track, and then last week tied the Dayton track record at 1:57.2. Chris Shaw has the driving assignment from post seven in the 10th race for trainer Richard Dunn, who co-owns him with MBC Stables LLC.

This division, the traditional “glamour division,” also contains the points leader, Bettor Not (PP1, Cody Schadel), and the author of the fastest mile at the fairs this year, 1:54.4, Fasting (PP8, Jeremy Indof).

The other three-year-old final, for filly trotters in race five, features another 12-time winner and points leader in the International Moni-Cantab Cabela filly Tally The Tab, who has won her last 10 starts on the twice-around circuit. Trained and driven by the 2025 fair leader in both categories, Todd Schadel (Tony’s brother), and co-owned by him with his wife, Christine, Tally The Tab faces a challenge in overcoming the outside post eight starting assignment.

The two winningest two-year-olds at the fairs this year, a pair of trotters, both had nine victories, and both enter their championships on long winning streaks. Pa Patricia goes into the filly trot having won seven races in a row and leading her group. She starts from post three in the seventh race for driver Chris Shaw, trainer Ashley Brown, and owners Sandy Petersen and Alexa Shaw.

The other nine-time trotting freshman winner, the International Moni-By A Nose Hanover gelding Nose Jammer, has an even longer win streak of eight, a number reflected in his post position. He will race for Todd and Christine Schadel. Despite the streak, he wasn’t his divisional points champion: that was the Fordham Road-Keystone Wonder gelding Rt Wonder Colt, who was a consistent 16-6-8-2 over the summer. He will begin from slot two for driver Eric Neal, trainer Tom Loughry Jr., and Brocious Racing Stable Inc.

The pacing filly point title went to the last card of the year before Vegas Queen, a daughter of Sweet Lou-Takara Rose to be driven from post five by Jim Pantaleano for trainer Neil Balcerak and owner George Prushnok, clinched the coveted cooler in stable colours over Beachys Mistress (PP4, Brady Brown). The freshman pacing colts were an unsettled bunch much of the year; the point champion Party Rock Hanover (PP1, Buter), racing for Team Tony Schadel, had only two victories, but one was the fastest mile of the year by a two-year-old, 1:57.

First post is set for 1 p.m.

(PHHA/Pocono)