On Friday afternoon, July 19 at the Bedford Fair, the three-year-old Fordham Road filly Loveyoubunches won a Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes event in 1:58.1 – the fastest mile by age, sex and gait in the history of the Pennsylvania fairs, knocking a tick off the standard set by Plumb (Meyersdale, 2020) and Quarantina (Bedford, 2023).
Loveyoubunches is undefeated in three starts at the Pennsy twicearounds for trainer/driver Todd Schadel, co-owner of the 1:55.2 winner at Pocono Downs earlier this year with his wife Christine, and Rick and Regina Beinhauer. The time was also the fastest trot on the local fair circuit this year.
In the trotting colt “A” section, trainer Scott Betts’s horses finished 1-2, with the Cantab Hall gelding Brooksie, driven in a rare sulky turn by the trainer himself, who was first in 2:02 for owner Timothy Betts.
The “girls” also provided a faster mile than the “boys” among the three-year-old pacers, with fastest mile of the week honours to the Stay Hungry miss Stay Sunny, already a three-time “B” level and now with an “A” level score in 1:57.1 for driver Eric Neal and trainer/owner Mitchell York.
The males did themselves no disservice in the speed department. The Betting Line gelding Ante Up Hanover, fresh off his all-time Clearfield record of 1:57 on Tuesday, came right back on Friday to win his “A” event in 1:57.2, defeating stablemate Twiggs Pub (himself a triple “A” winner), for trainer/driver Schadel, with wife Christine also sharing ownership of the 2023 Fair Championship winner. The “B” division wasn’t far off speedwise, with R T Whistlin Willie, an altered son of A Rocknroll Dance, on top in 1:57.4 for driver Eric Neal, trainer Tom Loughry Jr. and Brocious Racing Stable Inc.
During Thursday’s racing for two-year-olds, the Captain Crunch-Bettor N Better colt Bettor Safe went the quickest mile of the year by a freshman on the cotton candy circuit, 2:00.1, graduating from “B” to “A” emphatically for trainer/driver Schadel and ownership partner Let It Ride Stables Inc. On the pacing filly side, the Papi Rob Hanover-Fashion Katie miss Ginger Tree Rose won a “B” event in 2:03.3, faster than the “A” cut, and giving driver Sam Beegle his 999th career triumph.
The colt trot “A” divisions were swept by Schadel, with the quicker, in 2:03.4, to the Andover Hall-No Excuses gelding Andovers Hotrod, whom Schadel co-owns with Calvin Hoover, while the Cantab Hall-Quite Possible gelding Born Silly became the only two-year-old to record four “A” wins so far, for Schadel, his wife Christine, and Rick and Regina Beinhauer.
Driver Schadel and trainer Schadel barely edged out driver Eric Neal and trainer Tom Loughry Jr., 5-4, for the meet’s top honours.
The Pennsylvania Fair Circuit now takes some time off, but it’s going nowhere – the next action is right back at Bedford, with a two-day Sire Stakes race meet at 3 p.m. on Wednesday the 30th and Thursday the 31st.
(Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen’s Association, Meadows Standardbred Owners Association and Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association)