On Sunday and Monday, the Wayne County Fairgrounds in this far northeastern of Pennsylvania towns staged the first half of their unique doubleheader – they have their “two-day Sire Stakes meet,” permissible at five locations under Pennsylvania law, and then on Wednesday and Thursday they will have the “agricultural fair meet” two-day stand.
The two-year-olds proved to be a bit quicker than their three-year-old counterparts in terms of accomplishments lining up against previous standards, with two divisional track records equalled on Monday, while Sunday’s three-year-old competition naturally produced the faster raw times.
It didn’t take long for the Honesdale record book see its first alternation Monday, as in the opening contest the Western Terror-Tootsie J freshman pacing gelding Way To Close reported home in 2:01.4 for trainer Todd Schadel, co-owner with Christine Schadel. But it was not Todd in the sulky behind the winner, as he handled stablemate Motive Hanover, who finished second, while Roger Hammer drove the new standard sharer – fitting in that Roger campaigned the first of the division’s standard-bearers, Artist’s Falcon, when that colt entered the annals two years ago.
The other horse equalling a Honesdale standard was the Muscle Massive – Missing Dough trotting filly Touch Of Dough, who ran her fair record to three wins in five starts by trotting her mile in 2:07, equalling the local mark first reached by AJ Peyton Rose in 2009. Eric Neal, who drove five winners at the meet, guided the baby for his father Randal and the Neal Racing Stable LLC.
The real star of the day, and the meet, was two-legged – Todd Schadel. The Schadel barn sent out seven of the eleven winners on the Monday card, with Todd guiding five of them; Vivid Photo co-owner Hammer handled the other two, and Todd finished second behind him in both incidences. Combined with a trainer/driver triple on Sunday, Todd’s two-day totals were 18-10-4-1-.697 as a trainer, while on the sulky side his stats were 18-8-6-1-.648.
The sophomores on Sunday produced a pair of magic miles, with the Real Artist gelding Cirrus De Vie the only PA fair horse to have six wins as he continued his undefeated twice around ways with a 2:00 mile. Trainer/driver Roger Hammer co-owns the in-form side-wheeler with Vicki Fair.
Last year Cirrus De Vie had four seconds and two thirds behind Venier Hanover, who was sensational at the fairs at two; this year Cirrus had finished ahead of Venier in five straight starts – but Venier finally drew apart from Cirrus this week, and he celebrated by not only winning but by going a tick faster than Cirrus De Vie. Trained/driver Dave Brickell, co-owner with Mitchell York, is certainly hoping this win may augur a change of 2018 fortune for the winning son of Well Said.
Fastest sophomore trotter was the Donato Hanover gelding Show Me The Magic, making his first fair start of the season a successful one in 2:03.3 while in reign to Drew Chellis. Todd Schadel’s father Bruce is the trainer and owner of the sophomore, who has now won two of his last three.
Honesdale will now draw on Tuesday for its Wednesday-Thursday “second meet”; there was a draw Monday for fair action on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Greene County Fair in Waynesburg PA, 358 miles from Honesdale (and Dave Palone’s hometown).
(Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen’s Association)