Three-year-old’s shine at Clearfield Fair

CLEARFIELD, PA – Tuesday and Wednesday were devoted to three-year-old Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes at the end of the four-day meeting in this northcentral Pennsylvania town, and the same pattern repeated from the Sunday/Monday opening sessions for harness racing two-year-olds: the trotters, who went first in each "group," got the better of the weather.

Another pattern that repeated was that in general the trotting fillies went a little bit faster than their colt counterparts. The fastest mile of Tuesday was turned in 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 (!) for a 2:03.4 victory 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" 3FT, Schadel's co-owner on the storied Vivid Photo, Roger Hammer, won with the Explosive Matter miss Blow Back, running her fair record to 5-3-2-0 in 2:04.2 for trainer/driver Hammer, also co-owner with Vicki Fair.

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. (a perennial factor among the fair trotting set), and owner Susan Daugherty. Winning for the third time at the fairs was Grapple Hanover, an Andover Hall gelding who went just a tick behind What A Hunk 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 and raceable. The Daily Double even managed to produce a pair of sub-2:00 miles as trainer/driver Roger Hammer swept the "A" male events, with Cirrus De Vie becoming the first horse to win at the fairs five times this year as he kept his circuit record spotless with a 1:59.2 mile, only 2/5 off the divisional track record, with Hammer sharing ownership with Vicki Fair.

In the other cut, Marvalous Falcon, a double winner in the "B"s, survived being three-wide to the quarter (in a five-horse field) to post a 1:59.3 time, a seasonal best, for his scrappy breeder/owner/trainer/driver.

Earning filly honors was the A Rocknroll Dance miss Dance For Kisses, who traversed a "sloppy +3" oval in 2:01.2 for her second fair win. 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 and Monday and then its fair meet on Wednesday and Thursday. 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 and Wednesday.

From the Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen's Association