Freshmen Pennsylvania-breds stuffed the entry box at the Gratz, Pennsylvania Fairgrounds, setting up a 14-race card on Saturday (July 9) at the half-mile oval in Pennsylvania Dutch country
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By day’s end, drivers with the last name Hammer or Schadel won 11 of 14 events.
Todd Schadel, who drove three winners on the afternoon, opened the day by guiding Hans Enggren’s Meadowbranch Jill to a 2:06.3 win in a two-year-old filly trot. Schadel also trains the Cantab Hall filly.
In the first two-year-old pacing event for fillies, Serenity Breeze gave owner, trainer and driver Roger Hammer his first of four victories. The Nuclear Breeze homebred scored in 2:02 with a :59.3 last half mile.
Tony Schadel then captured the first two-year-old colt trot, the first of his four driving wins. Order By Me, leased and trained by Syl King, covered the mile in 2:03.1. Order By Me is a gelded son of Cantab Hall.
Hammer next guided Shootoutthelights (Dragon Again) to a 2:04.4 win in another filly pacing split. He also owns and trains the filly, a first-time winner.
Another Hammer trainee won the third filly pacing split, but this time with Tony Schadel in the bike. Paints Hall (Blissfull Hall) won her third race in five starts, parked most of the mile and getting up for a 2:03.3 victory. Hammer co-owns with Frank Dettore.
Meadow Creek Stable’s May Day Mist managed to stay flat and win a two-year-old colt trot – the only horse in the field of six that stayed on gait. Tony Schadel drove the Straight Up Lindy gelding for trainer Ryan Castellani. The winning time was 2:09.3.
The Schadel-Hammer streak was temporarily stopped in the day’s seventh race, a two-year-old colt trot. Side Ways, owned by Laura Oldin and Terry Altmeyer, was a 2:07 winner for driver Chris Shaw. Altmeyer trains the SJs Caviar colt.
In a two-year-old colt pace, fair newcomer City Image, trained and driven by John Marshall, was a wire-to-wire winner in 2:00.4. The Metropolitan gelding paced a :58-second last half for owners John and Susan Marshall.
In the next colt pacing division, NF Drum Roll, owned by Todd Schadel and Hammer, scored in 2:01.3. Todd Schadel trains and reined the Real Artist colt.
The day’s final colt pacing division went to Nate Breeze, a Nuclear Breeze colt owned by Hammer in partnership with Vicki Fair. Hammer trains and guided the colt to a 1:59.4 win with a last half of :57.4.
Owner Hans Enggren picked up his second win of the day in a colt trot as Meadowbranch Jack scored in 2:03.2. The SJs Caviar gelding is trained by Todd Schadel, who also drove.
The next two events were for filly trotters, with wins earned by Magnolia Grace (Glidemaster) and Desired Outcome (Tom Ridge). Magnolia Grace, owned by Jack and Sharon Claypoole, was a 2:07.4 winner for trainer-driver Bill Daugherty. Desired Outcome is owned by the Dunn Stable and trained by Boots Dunn. Roger Hammer picked up the winning catch-drive with a 2:07.1 effort.
Tony Schadel closed out the day with a 2:01 victory behind Steppin Hanover in a freshman filly pace for PA-breds. The winner is owned by Joseph Benedetti, Ron Silletto and Syl King. King trains the Allamerican Native filly.
Eleven heats for three-year-olds will begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Gratz.
For video highlights from the circuit, visit www.youtube.com/pafairs.
(PHRC)