Tuesday (July 31) and Wednesday (Aug. 1) were devoted to three-year-old Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes at the end of the four-day meeting at the Clearfield (Pa.) County Fair.
The same pattern repeated from the Sunday and Monday sessions for two-year-olds: the trotters, who went first in each “group,” got the better of the weather. Another pattern that repeated was that the trotting fillies generally went a little bit faster than their colt counterparts.
The fastest mile of Tuesday came in the very first race of the day by the Crazed filly Critical Hanover, who won her third straight on the county fair circuit, overcoming the outside post four in 2:03.4 for the dominant performer of the meet, trainer-driver Todd Schadel, and for his wife and son, owners Christine and Cody Schadel. In the other "A" division for sophomore trotting fillies, trainer-driver Roger Hammer won with the Explosive Matter miss Blow Back, running her fair record to 5-3-2-0 in 2:04.2. Vicki Fair shares ownership with Hammer.
The quickest of the trotting males was the Muscle Massive gelding What A Hunk, a 2:04.4 winner for driver Steve Schoeffel, trainer Bill Daugherty Jr. and owner Susan Daugherty. Grapple Hanover won for the third time on the fair circuit for trainer-driver Wayne Long and the partnership of William Kreutzer and Denton Barrett.
The rains came back for the pacers on Wednesday, and again the track crew at Clearfield worked wonders to keep the surface safe. Hammer swept the “A” male events, with Cirrus De Vie becoming the first horse to win at the fairs five times this year with a 1:59.2 mile, only two-fifths off the divisional track record. Hammer shares ownership with Vicki Fair. In the other cut, Marvalous Falcon, a two-time winner in the "B" division, survived being three-wide to the quarter to post a 1:59.3 time, a seasonal best.
The A Rocknroll Dance miss Dance For Kisses earned top honours among fillies with a 2:01.2 win over sloppy going. Tony Schadel handled the sulky duties for owner-trainer Justin Lebo.
Todd Schadel, with nine sulky victories, won Clearfield’s annual Buster DiSalvo trophy for that accomplishment. All his winners were from his barn, so he also topped that category. Schadel now has 25 wins on the fair circuit in both categories, six ahead of friendly rival Hammer.
The Pennsylvania fair circuit will be doing a “split” for next week’s racing. Some horses will go to the far northeast corner of the state, to Honesdale, which will conduct its two-day meet on Sunday (Aug. 5) and Monday (Aug. 6) and then its fair meet on Wednesday (Aug. 8) and Thursday (Aug. 9). The other group will be 358 miles away in the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, where the Greene County Fair will race at Waynesburg on Tuesday (Aug. 7) and Wednesday (Aug. 8).
(Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen's Association)