Roger Hammer has a good day at Fair

INDIANA PA – Two three-year-old fillies and trainer/driver Roger Hammer continued their winning ways at the Indiana County (PA) Fairgrounds Monday and Tuesday, with two-year-olds going on Monday and Tuesday spotlighting the harness racing three-year-old set.

You have a choice of clichés pointing to which should be written about to start — "Age before beauty" vs. "Ladies first," so we'll defer to chronology and describe the freshmen action first. And that would be headlined by Hammer: the Real Artist pacing colt colt Cirrus De Vie won the "A" Sires section in 2:04 for his trainer/driver/co-owner and co-owner Vicki Fair, and the Delmarvalous gelding Marvalous Falcon completed the sweep with a "B" level win in 2:07.1 for his owner/trainer/driver. Cirrus De Vie won his first two fair starts in B, went 6-0-5-1 upon coming to A, and now has taken three straight in the higher class, while Marvalous Falcon is 3-for-3 in B while also winning twice in A, including the only fair conquering of Venier Hanover.

Speaking of "only fair conquerings": The Andover Hall gelding Grapple Hanover won his fourth baby trot A contest in 2:09, and doing so put the first blemish on Hockey Hanover's fair scorecard after five victories. Wayne Long trains and drove Grapple, and he then completed a driving sweep of the A class with a 2:07.1 win behind the Donato Hanover gelding Tymal Advocate, trained by Bob Rougeaux III for the Brocious Racing Stable Inc. and the Lone Wolf Stable. On the filly side, Nicole Hanover has now won four of five fair starts after the Explosive Matter filly twice circumnavigated the Indiana oval in 2:08.1, doubling up for the Brocious gang and trainer Rougeaux, who also steered the filly.

On Tuesday, the hometown fans got to give a big cheer in the opening race, as the local McMullen Stable LLC's All Set Lets Go kept alive the circuit's longest win streak at ten, the Donato Hanover distaff winning in 2:04.4 for driver Roger Hammer and trainer/patriarch John McMullen Jr.

Even with an 11-10-0-1 fair record and thus 365 points, All Set Lets Go is not atop the points column among all divisions at the fairs: that distinction goes to the Rocknroll Hanover filly Bella Ragaza, who won her ninth straight in 2:04 to send her twicearound record to 11-10-1-0, 10 points in the lead, for driver Tony Schadel and trainer Linda Schadel, the latter co-owner with Roxana Buffington.

Tony and Linda Schadel also posted a driver/trainer sweep of the 3YO trotting colt action; the twist here is that Carrick, an altered son of Donato Hanover, won the B section in 2:02.1 for owners Dr. Scott Woogen and Pam Wagner, much faster than the Schadels' own gelded son of Explosive Matter, Photo Bomber, posted in his 2:04 victory, his fifth of the fair circuit. But Carrick also shows an A victory – maybe the Schadels are learning how to play the A/B system like Hammer.

But as usual, the last word went to the wily Hammer, trainer/driver and co-owner with Vicki Fair of the Delmarvalous gelding Marvalous Artist, who won the A colt pace in the fastest time of the meet, 2:01.1. Marvalous Artist now has won three times at both the A and B levels (in case you're wondering, B division results don't earn points in qualifying for the Fair Sire Stakes Championships).

Hammer trained and drove seven winners during the two days, putting him at only a 49-47 disadvantage behind Chris Shaw in the drivers ranks and ballooning his lead to 43-29 over Chris's brother Jason on the conditioning side.

FINISHING LINES – While the meet wound down at Indiana Tuesday, a two-day meet started at the Erie County Fair in Wattsburg PA, and the two-year-old sensation Venier Hanover posted the fastest mile ever in the history of the oval, 2:00.1. More on Venier's recordsetting mile in the Wattsburg recap after Wednesday's races.

Publicity Office, Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen's Association