Many two-year-olds repeat winners at Dayton

DAYTON PA – The Pennsylvania fair harness racing circuit touched down for two days of racing on Wednesday and Thursday at the fairgrounds in this borough 60 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, where the themes of the stand were many repeat winners – and “B” level two-year-olds frequently bettering the clockings of their “A” counterparts.

The two-year-olds raced on Wednesday, and three of the traditional four sections saw a quicker clocking posted in the lower-level stakes. Fastest of all the Dayton freshmen was the Tall Dark Stranger – Viva La Deo gelding Venom Hanover, who broke his maiden in 2:05.3 (to be fair, so to speak, he did show a 1:56.3 qualifying win at Pocono) for trainer-driver Todd Schadel, also co-owner with Jim Simpson, Timothy Hayes, and Dr. Megan Moschat. The “A” winner a race earlier was Quill Gordon (a Stay Hungry – Pueblo Blue Chip gelding) whose victory was his third straight win and fourth “A” triumph overall, tying him for top among all higher-level fair babies.

The other quadruple “A”-winning freshman is the Always B Miki – Zane Hanover miss Beachy’s Mistress, but speedwise she took a back seat to the 2:07 mile of four-time “B” winner Dark Sky (Tall Dark Stranger – Firestorm), co-owned by trainer-driver Todd Schadel in partnership with wife Christine and Caitlin Solt. The other faster winner in “B” action was also a Todd Schadel production, the Greenshoe – Dominica gelding The Rizzler, who had posted two “A” wins before a downturn in form brought him to the lower level, where he was rejuvenated, and he recorded the fastest juvenile trot of 2:08.

The only “A” two-year-old to also be fastest was the Cantab Hall – BWT Maija miss Sueetta, who has now won three-in-a-row in “A”s  for trainer-driver Steve Schoeffel.

During Thursday’s three-year-old racing the “A” group restored the normal speed primacies, and Eric Neal was the driving force with six successful sulkysittings.  Neal was the pilot of the Tom Loughry Jr. trainee Skepticism, a daughter of Tall Dark Stranger who had the fastest mile at Honesdale and here won in 2:00 for the quickest clocking of the Dayton stand for owner Geraldine Poerio.

The winningest horse of all at the fairs is the Captain Crunch colt Bettor Not, now undefeated in eight starts over the twicearounds after a victory for trainer-driver Todd Schadel, co-owner with wife Christine.

Fastest trot of the meet was the 2:05.2 victory of the Bar Hopping gelding Set The Bar, a five-time “A” winner and author of the fair year’s fastest trot (1:58.4 at Hughesville). Another charge of trainer-driver Schadel, he is owned by Todd and his wife Christine along with Rick and Regina Beinhauer.

The International Moni filly Tally The Tab, trained and driven by Todd Schadel, won her sixth “A” stake in the day’s curtainraiser, but ironically she was the one top-level sophomore whose time was bettered by a “B” winner.  The Neal / Loughry connection struck again with the Greenshoe miss RT Paint It Black, owned by Lone Wolf Stable, whose 2:05.4 mile was a tick better than Tally The Tab’s.

Eric Neal’s thunderous Thursday of sulky success, including wins in the last two races of the meet, allowed him to take Dayton honors with seven sulky scores to Todd Schadel’s six; Schadel’s six training wins gave him the crown in that category.

Thursday was the only day of the year on the Keystone fair circuit where two tracks raced in one day; a meet at Meyersdale in Somerset County, 110 miles almost due south of Dayton, saw two-year-olds put on a speed show. A full report on the Meyersdale action will be sent out after the three-year-olds race there Friday. For more information, please see https://www.pafairsracing.org.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

From the PFHHA, MSOA and PHHA partnership