Great George Two filly rewrites record

CLEARFIELD PA – There must be something about driving a trotter during the first week of August that brings out the best in Roger Hammer – and his horse. Hammer's most famous win during this timeframe, of course, came on August 6, 2005, when he took a graduate of the Pennsylvania fairs named Vivid Photo and made history in winning harness racing's most prestigious race, the Hambletonian.

 

On Tuesday, August 2, 2016, Hammer and another sophomore trotter made history – on a somewhat smaller scale admittedly – when the Great George Two filly A Little Laid Back toured the half-mile oval at the Clearfield (PA) County Fair in 2:02.3, breaking the old 2010 track mark of 2:03.2 by PJ's Photo for the division, and not far off the all-time Clearfield trot mark of 2:02 shared by Cottonwood Sam and Simeon.

 

Hammer used "a little laid back" driving style with Vivid Photo, rallying him from well of the pace, but here he went back to his usual frontstepping tactics, putting up splits of 30.2, 1:01, and 1:31.3 en route to the record clocking; the only thing that was affected by her two other rivals breaking stride was the winning margin, which was only 48¾ lengths. A Little Laid Back has now set five track records in her year-plus of PA fair racing for owner/trainer/driver Hammer – three last year, and two this year. She's tied with stablemate 2TC Toolbox Tuesday and the 2TF Lovebeinglucky as the only horses to have set divisional track records on two occasions this season.

 

If memories of Vivid Photo are to be evoked, it is only fair to note that Hammer's ownership partner on "Vivid," Todd Schadel, drove three horses from his barn to victory on the Tuesday card, while no other horseman made more than one visit to Victory Lane.

 

The sport's glamour division, the three-year-old pacers, will be featured on the final card of the four-day Clearfield stand, with post time Wednesday at high noon.