The three-year-old Always B Miki-Thecrowdiswatching filly Milagro, a defending Pennsylvania Fair Champion, continued to be the circuit’s big story in 2025, winning her 10th Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes A event of the year during Thursday, Aug. 28 racing at the Stoneboro Fair in the northwest section of the state.
Co-owned by the leading driver and trainer on the fair circuit this year, trainer Linda and driver Tony Schadel, Milagro won the fastest of the three A-class Fair Sire Stakes divisions for her group (and for the meet) in 1:59.4, giving her six sub-2:00 miles during the summer for top spot in that category. Earlier this season, she paced the fastest mile of the year on the circuit, 1:55.2 at Hughesville, which tied the record for any Pennsylvania fair for her age, sex, and gait.
The other A-level filly winners were the Always B Miki-Dime A Dance filly Golden Magic in 2:00 for driver Case Bateson and trainer Doug Snyder, and Milagro’s stablemate Tinas Wish, a 2:00.2 winner with Tony Schadel driving.
Two other sophomores entered Thursday with nine fair victories, but both were upset in going for double digits. Bettor Not, undefeated in his nine prior fair races in 2025, was beaten by the Heston Blue Chip-Hawaiian Drink gelding Happy Hour Blues, who won three straight in Bs and now has taken two in As, this one part of driver Steven Fedokovitz’s first career driving double. The winner is trained by Aaron Johnston. The other section for pacing males was faster, as the Papi Rob Hanover-Apple Hanover gelding Stealing Apples got the stopwatch to click in 2:00 for Team Barnard – driver Jesse and trainer Savannah, the latter of which owns him.
The second horse to stall at the nine-win count was male trotter Lionheart Hanover, who was upended by Andovers Hotrod and trainer-driver Todd Schadel. He co-owns the Andover Hall-No Excuses colt with Calvin Hoover. Todd Schadel also drove and trained the fastest trotting winner at Stoneboro, the International Moni-Cantab Cabela filly Tally The Tab, who has eight fair successes after covering Stoneboro in 2:02.1. She is owned by Todd and Christine Schadel.
Thursday had another noteworthy accomplishment, the first-ever driving victory for 22-year-old Abigail Wright, behind the Captain Ahab-Jo Pas Eato filly Melville, a filly she co-owns with trainer Gary Johnston. Wright won for the first time in her 10th drive after making her first nine starts behind Eureka Moment. The Butler, Pa. resident debuted in July and has hit the board five times.
Turning to the Wednesday card and the two-year-olds, another pacing filly emerged as her class’s biggest winner, with the Sweet Lou-Takara Rose filly Vegas Queen the first to get six A-level freshman triumphs with a 2:03 mile for driver David Brickell, trainer Neil Balcerak, and owner George Prushnok.
In a parallel to the sophomores, two other freshmen were entered for Stoneboro tied with Vegas Queen as five-time winners. But pacing gelding Quill Gordon was scratched from a race that produced the quickest two-year-old clocking, the 2:01.2 mile authored by the Tall Dark Stranger-Viva La Deo gelding Venom Hanover. He is trained and driven by Todd Schadel, who co-owns him with Jim Simpson, Timothy Hayes, and Dr. Megan Moschgat. And trotting gelding Rt Wonder Colt came up shy in a 2:06 victory by Mohawk, an altered son of Captain Corey-Chips N Caviar, who is driven by Eric Neal, trained by Tom Loughry, and owned by Brocious Racing Stable Inc. Mohawk’s time tied for the fastest freshman trotting mile with the winning effort of the International Moni-By A Nose Hanover gelding Nose Jammer, who won for Todd and Christine Schadel.
Todd Schadel took Stoneboro honours as top horseman on both the driving and training side with seven victories in each category. The tussle for yearly fair honours figures to be very close. After Stoneboro, the standings among drivers are Tony Schadel 61, Eric Neal 59, and Todd Schadel 57. The trainers standings have Linda Schadel leading Todd Schadel 60-59.
After completing the racing at Stoneboro, the Pennsylvania Fair Circuit is about to reach the three-quarter pole for 2025, with only five more stops among the 19 meets that comprise the circuit. Gratz will host the next two Fair Sire Stakes races, with its two-day meet on Saturday, Sept. 6 and Sunday, Sept. 7, and then its fair meet on the following Sunday and Monday. Post time for all four Gratz cards has been set for noon.
(Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen Association, Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association, and Meadows Standardbred Owners Association)