The only remaining stop on the Pennsylvania fair circuit that extends more than two days for its meet, the Clearfield County Fair, located about equidistant from The Meadows and Pocono (Philly is a bit more distant), completed a Saturday-through-Tuesday stand. Two-year-olds preceded three-year-olds, and trotters preceded pacers in the four-day segment, which offered $159,897 in total purses.
In Saturday’s racing, the two “A” PA Fair Sire Stakes divisions for both trotting colts and fillies were split between Team Neal/Loughery (driver Eric and trainer Tom Jr.) and Team Tony and Linda Schadel.
The fastest time of all of the two-year-old trots was produced by the Father Patrick-Toms Bday Belle filly Belles Victory in 2:06.4. She is a Tony/Linda distaff also owned by them. That team also had a winner in the “B” colt and gelding trot for the day’s top honours.
The fastest freshman pacer, on Sunday, was also a filly: the Sweet Lou-Takara Rose miss Vegas Queen, who set a fair season’s record of 2:02.4 in winning for owner George Prushnok and the hot team of driver Joe Chindano Sr. and trainer Neil Balcerak. Chindano and Balcerak were joined by driver Aaron Johnston as doublers for the day.
The racing switched over to three-year-olds starting on Monday with trotting action, and the leading horseman at the Pennsylvania fairs for the last few years, Todd Schadel, drove four winners, three from his own stable. Todd won two of the “A” colt events, with the Bar Hopping-Promisemethis gelding Set The Bar, who is now undefeated in four fair outings (including his 1:58.4 all-age track record at Hughesville), triumphing in the fastest time, 2:02.4, also the quickest trot of the meet. Trainer-driver Todd is also co-owner with his wife Christine, along with partners Rick and Regina Beinhauer.
Todd’s brother Tony won the third “A” colt race with 2024 Fair Champion Lionheart Hanover, now 4-3-1-0 at the fairs in 2025. Trainer-driver Jim Daugherty swept the two colt “B” events.
The week concluded with sophomore pacers on Tuesday. The fastest mile of the day and the meet came from a filly, a dominant trend at Clearfield, but the source was perhaps not the one expected. It was the Heston Blue Chip-Lastplanetolondon miss Dapplesrsweet, who turned in a terrific 1:58 mile, just two-fifths off the 22-year-old divisional track record of My Gal Phyl. Dapplesrsweet scored for driver James Dodson, trainer Ron Lineweaver, and owner Steve Wetzel.
Milagro, the ladies’ dominant headline maker with a record 2024 Fair Championship title who recently rewrote the Hughesville pacing standard to 1:55.2 in the quickest mile of the local fair year overall, won again, but “only” in 2:00.2. Driver Tony and trainer Linda Schadel, the Always B Miki-Thecrowdiswatching filly's co-owners, doubled on the card.
Among the colts, Bettor Not, a son of Captain Crunch-Bettorhaveanother, won in 1:59, joining Todd Schadel trotting stablemate Set The Bar at the seasonal-high total of four fair “A” wins, also raising his 2:00-or-better count to a leading three. The team of driver Jesse Barnard and hot trainer Neil Balcerak swept the “B” colt Sire Stakes; Eric Neal was also an overall doubler on the card.
Tony Schadel won the Buster DiSalvo Trophy as the winningest driver with seven victories during the meet; all were conditioned by wife Linda, the top trainer.
The Keystone fair horses and horsemen are right back in action on Thursday and Friday at the Bedford Fair, where post time will be at 3 p.m. both days. Bettor Not is right back in to go on Friday.
(Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen’s Association, Meadows Standardbred Owners Association, and Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association)