Always B Miki filly gets 10th fair win

STONEBORO PA – The three-year-old Always B Miki pacing filly Milagro, a 2024 Pennsylvania Fair Champion, continued to be the circuit’s big harness racing story in 2025, winning her tenth fair “A” stake of the year during racing Wednesday and Thursday racing at the Stoneboro Fair in the northwest section of the state.

Owned by the leading driver and trainer on the Pennsy fair circuit this year, trainer Linda and driver Tony Schadel, Milagro won the fastest of the three “A” Fair Sire Stakes divisions for her group (and for that matter, for the meet), in 1:59.4, giving her six 2:00 miles during the summer for top spot in that category. She also has paced the fastest mile of the year on the circuit, 1:55.2 at Hughesville, which ties the record for any PA fair for her age, sex, and gait.

The other “A” filly winners were the Always B Miki filly Golden Magic, home in 2:00 for driver Case Bateson and trainer Doug Snyder, and Milagro’s stablemate Tina’s Wish, a 2:00.2 winner.

Two other sophomores entered Thursday with nine fair victories, but both were upset in going for double digits. Bettor Not, undefeated in his nine fair races in 2025, was beaten by the Heston Blue Chip pacing 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 other section was faster, as the Papi Rob Hanover gelding Stealing Apples got the stopwatch to click in 2:00 for Team Barnard – driver Jesse and trainer Savannah, the latter also the owner.

The second horse to stall at the nine-win count was male trotter Lionheart Hanover, who was upended by Andover’s Hotrod and trainer-driver Todd Schadel. Schadel also drove the fastest trotting winner at Stoneboro, the International Moni filly Tally The Tab, who has eight fair successes after covering Stoneboro in 2:02.1.

Thursday had another noteworthy accomplishment, the first-ever driving victory for 22-year-old Abigail Wright, behind the Captain Ahab filly Melville (naming an English major can appreciate), a horse she co-owns with trainer Gary Johnston.

Turning to Wednesday and the two-year-olds, and another pacing filly emerges as her class’s biggest winner, with the Sweet Lou – Takara Rose filly Vegas Queen the first to get six “A” freshman triumphs with a 2:03 mile for driver David Brickell, trainer Neil Balcerak, and owner George Prushnok.

In an ironic 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 produced by the Tall Dark Stranger – Viva La Deo gelding Venom Hanover. And trotting gelding RT Wonder Colt came up shy in a 2:06 victory by the altered son of Captain Corey – Chips N Caviar, Mohawk. Mohawk’s time tied for fastest freshman trotting mile with the winning effort of the International Moni – By A Nose Hanover gelding Nose Jammer.

(We are sorry that we can’t work in the names of all the connections of these winners, but all these fine horses deserve their mention, readers always ask about breeding, and there are size limitations on this type of story when we submit it for publication. Your peers recognize you, though, and so do students of the charts – such as this writer.)

Todd Schadel, as might be gathered from reading this report, took Stoneboro honors as top horseman on both the driving and training side, with seven victories in each category. The tussle for yearly honors figures to be very close – after Stoneboro, drivers: Tony Schadel 61, Eric Neal 59, Todd Schadel 57; trainers; Linda Schadel 60, Todd Schadel 59.

Hard to believe, but 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 nineteen meets that comprise the circuit. Gratz PA will host the next two PA Fair Sire Stakes races, with its “two-day” meet on Saturday-Sunday, September 6-7, and then its “fair” meet on the following Sunday and Monday, September 14-15. Post time for all four Gratz cards has been set for high noon.

For more information, please visit https://www.pafairsracing.org.

From the PFHHA, MSOA and PHHA partnership