Hugh O’Neil nails five at Somerset (PA) County Fair

MEYERSDALE, PA – The Somerset County Fair, in this borough in the western part of the state near the Maryland border, hosted two days of Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes harness racing on Thursday and Friday (Aug. 18 & 19) as part of the busy state Fair Circuit. This is the third year of racing at Somerset (second for the two-year-olds, as they were rained out last year) since 1953, when a hurricane destroyed the barn area.

Meyersdale earned the distinction of being the first stop along the circuit this year to have three 2:00 miles during its meet, all in the first three races of Friday’s competition for three-year-olds. Fastest was the 1:58.1 turned in by the Betting Line pacing filly Bettor Strait N Up, fastest for any female at any fair this year, for her co-owners, driver Tony and trainer Linda Schadel.

Both the fair point leader and the Championship winner last year, Bettor Strait N Up again is atop her division with six wins and two seconds in eight starts – and no fair horse has ever been their divisional point leader and Champion at age two and three.

Two divisions of the ”A” Fair Sire Stakes constituted the Friday Daily Double, which was swept by driver Hugh O’Neil (more on him in a minute) with gelded sons of A Rocknroll Dance. Dancethewayuare was home in 1:59.4 for owner/trainer Gary Johnston, and Truthfull Meaning stopped the timer in 1:59 for trainer Jason Shaw and owner Christian Apel.

The highlight of Thursday’s racing for two-year-olds was a rewriting of the track record for trotting fillies to 2:08 by the Keystone Savage – Miss Milwaukee distaff Miss Class, erasing the old mark of 2:08.2 set by Explosive Flowers. Trainer Pete Kaiser drove the new recordholder to her third straight victory for lessees Better Days Stable.

Back to Hugh O’Neil for a minute. The 29-year-old native of Scotland shows his first official North American drives at Spring Garden Ranch this March, and he did not record his first purse victory until the first Pennsylvania fair meet of the year, at Butler on June 29.

Flash ahead 51 days, and Hugh currently sports a stat line of 91-24-9-13-.366, with one-third of those wins – eight (five on Friday) — coming during the 18 races held at the Somerset County Fair, far outdistancing Roger Hammer and Tony Schadel, who tied with three victories for the two days. On the training side, Gary Johnston harnessed four winners, one more than Hammer and Jason Shaw.

The Pennsylvania-sired trotters and pacers will be in action next at the Crawford County Fair in Meadville, with the first call to post on Saturday and Sunday at 12 noon.

For complete Thursday race results, click here.

For complete Friday race results, click here.

From the MSOA, PHHA and the PFHHA partnership