By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
STATE COLLEGE PA – Pennsylvania’s fair horsepeople came together Saturday evening at the Nittany Lion Inn for the annual Pennsylvania Fair Awards Dinner, held in conjunction with meetings of the U.S. Trotting Association and the Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen’s Association.
 
Maestroed by USTA District Chairman Sam Beegle, the Dinner provides two sets of awards to the best horses at the fairs: honored are the leading pointwinners throughout the summer fair season in the eight fair categories, along with the winners of their Championship events at the end of the season.
 
Three horses were double winners: freshman trotting filly PA Patricia, sophomore pacing filly Milagro, and sophomore trotting male Lionheart Hanover. Milagro earned her second straight Championship, while her stablemate for Tony and Linda Schadel, Lionheart Hanover, became only the second PA fair horse ever to win the group’s point title and Championship at two and three: the other was pacing filly Bettor Strait N Up, who also raced for Tony and Linda.
 
The leading pointwinners, who received a blanket “done up” in their stable colors, were:
 
2-YEAR-OLD TROTTING MALE – RT WONDER COLT, g, Fordham Road – Keystone Wonder, owned by Brocious Racing Stable Inc., trained by Tom Loughry Jr.
 
2-YEAR-OLD TROTTING FEMALE—PA PATRICIA, Father Patrick – Tymal Lux, owned by Sandy Petersen and Alexa Shaw, trained by Ashley Brown.
 
2-YEAR-OLD PACING MALE – PARTY ROCK HANOVER, g, Tall Dark Stranger – Planet Rock, owned by Tony and Linda Scahdel, trained by Linda Schadel.
 
2-YEAR-OLD PACING FEMALE – VEGAS QUEEN, Sweet Lou – Takara Rose, owned by George Prushnok, trained by Neil Balcerak.
 
3-YEAR-OLD TROTTING MALE – LIONHEART HANOVER, g, Greenshoe - Lady Riviera, owned by Tony and Linda Schadel, trained by Linda Schadel.
 
3-YEAR-OLD TROTTING FEMALE – SHALAMAR HANOVER, Cantab Hall – Setntheworldonfire, owned by Todd and Christine Schadel, trained by Todd Schadel.
 
3-YEAR-OLD PACING MALE-- BETTOR NOT, c, Captain Crunch – Bettorhaveanother, owned by Todd and Christine Schadel, trainer Todd Schadel.
 
3-YEAR-OLD PACING FEMALE – MILAGRO, Always B Miki – Thecrowdiswatching, owned by Tony and Linda Schadel, trained by Linda Schadel.
 
The Championship, who received a snugly warm winter coat, were:
 
2-YEAR-OLD TROTTING MALE – GREEN SHADES, c, Greenshoe – Fifty Shades, owned by Hutt Racing Stable, trained by Steve Cook
 
2-YEAR-OLD TROTTING FEMALE-- PA PATRICIA, Father Patrick – Tymal Lux, owned by Sandy Petersen and Alexa Shaw, trained by Ashley Brown
 
2-YEAR-OLD PACING MALE – PAPI HOUR, c, Papi Rob Hanover – Candlelight Dinner, owned by George Prushnok, trained by Neil Balcerak
 
2-YEAR-OLD PACING FEMALE – DANCIN SWEET HEART, Always B Miki – J M Betting Hearts, owned by Grace Wright, trained by Gary Johnston
 
 
3-YEAR-OLD TROTTING MALE – LIONHEART HANOVER, g, Greenshoe - Lady Riviera, owned by Tony and Linda Schadel, trained by Linda Schadel
 
3-YEAR-OLD TROTTING FEMALE – TALLY THE TAB, International Moni – Cantab Cabela, owned by Todd and Christine Schadel, trained by Todd Schadel
 
3-YEAR-OLD PACING MALE—COMPENSATE ME, g, Sweet Lou – Breakheart Pass, owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, trained by Ron Burke
 
3-YEAR-OLD PACING FEMALE -- MILAGRO, Always B Miki – Thecrowdiswatching, owned by Tony and Linda Schadel, trained by Linda Schadel
 
Young James Schadel, who deputized for his parents Tony and Linda while they were on a cruise, did yeoman’s work in collecting all the stable’s winnings. He also was a frequent recipient during the distribution of the door prizes, which make the Fair Dinner Ticket one of harness racing’s best values, as the average ticket cost is exceeded by the average amount of “swag” the attendees garner. The redoubtable Roger Hammer won a jog cart, while the “grand prize” of a sulky went to Abby Martin.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​STATE COLLEGE PA – District 7 (Pennsylvania) of the United States Trotting Association met on Saturday, January 17 at the Nittany Lion Inn, with 28 in attendance – the third biggest attendance among Districts meeting so far, with the fourth highest turnout per percentage of USTA members and the highest ratio of attendees of any District with 1000 or more members.
 
Present were District 7 Chairman Sam Beegle, along with fellow member director Rich Gillock; track directors in attendance were Barry Brown and Rick Kane. Also present were USTA executive vice-president Mike Tanner, vice chair Mark Loewe, and secretary Michele Kopiec, in addition to Daryl Breniser of the PA Horse Racing Commission and Fred Strathmeyer of the PA Department of Agriculture.
 
Loewe led the assembled through the rule changes that were to go before the USTA Board, so that the Directors were made aware of their constituents’ attitudes. After lively discussion, the following proposals got the following reactions:

·         Resigning membership while under investigation – APPROVED

·         Horse race fatalities reported to USTA— TABLED

·         Shoes off/shoes on — REJECTED

·         Horse retirement contribution from claims— TABLED

·         Start caps for 2- and 3-year-olds — REJECTED

·         Deposit for appeals — APPROVED

·         Stallion Cap of 160 Mares— APPROVED

·         Standardbred as embryo transfer recipient mare – REJECTED

·         Executive committee composition – APPROVED

Beegle and Russell Williams were not up for election among the District 7 members; Gillock was and was reelected. Among track directors, Brown will now be joined by Michael Carter of the Meadows.
 
The USTA gathering was preceded by a meeting of the Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen’s Association, presided over by Darla DeCarlo Ritenour and secretary Michelle Daugherty. Among the topics discussed were the PA Fair Championships, to be held during a twilight card at The Meadows on Friday, October 9; the success of the livestreaming of racing from the Keystone fairs and of the PFHHA website; and an examination of the “A-B” levels of stakes racing at the fairs, with some modifications to be at least explored. These topics and others will arise at the PA Fair Convention this coming week.
 
PFHHA president Lisa Dunn and vice-president Harold Brocklehurst had previously indicated that they did not wish to return to these positions. In voting among those present, Tom Loughery Jr. was elected PFHHA president and Shawn Johnston vice-president; DeCarlo-Ritenour and Daugherty would continue in their present roles.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Honolulu Hanover came from way off the pace to post a 1:55.4 upset victory in the $14,000 trotting feature on the final card of 2025 at Harrah’s Philadelphia, which had a twilight start and was contested over fast going with the temperatures not varying much from freezing.
 
Honolulu Hanover picked up good cover from favored Kewpie Doll down the backstretch, then was swung wide late on the final turn by driver Mark Herschberger. Kewpie Doll went on well, but the Bar Hopping sophomore colt Honolulu Hanover went on even better to win by 1½ lengths over the chalk for Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, William Switala and James Martin. You usually don’t associate $55.00 win payoffs with horses from the stable of the Dan Patch Trainer of the Year, but a bomber winner for Herschberger was certainly not unprecedented – he tied with Johnathan Ahle and Patrick Ryder with three big-payoff winners, the most at Philly for the meet.
 
Trainer Tony Alagna brought a pair of Exit 16W pop-up series competitors from north Jersey to Philly and won the two classes below the feature. Benny J, a son of Walner who won the final of his series in his last start, rushed right to the lead in the $13,500 sub-feature and was not severely threatened throughout in a 1:55.1 tally. Johnathan Ahle drove the winner for owner Kenneth Jacobs.
 
The Alagna Armada came back in the very next race with Fiftyshadesofblu, an altered three-year--old son of Fiftydallarbill who made the lead at the half and soon widened out to an uncatchable margin as he lowered his race record to 1:55.3 (a time in which he had previously won a qualifier). Anibal Borjas had the driving assignment in the $12,000 trot and made the most of it for owners John Bernard and Alagna Racing LLC.
 
In the card’s $11,000 contest for fast-class trotters, B Nicking was on top in three steps for driver Jack Pelling and never looked back in a safe 1:55.2 victory. Favored Ritson sat in the two-hole but could not catch the victorious Wishing Stone gelding, trained by Scott Di Domenico for owner Ben Robards, and now a winner of $529,566.
 
Top pacing purse on the day was the $12,000 offered developing pacers, which was won by the Stay Hungry sophomore gelding Stay Focused in 1:53.1. George Napolitano Jr. moved with the Ron Burke trainee in front of the stands, was kept outside until getting the pocket late in the backstretch, then continued inside and had more than the closing heavy favorite Rider Hanover by a head for owner Bradley Grant.
 
Trainer Bob Belcher started the Sweet Lou gelding Leroy Gibbs in a bottom-level conditioned pace after the horse came to him from The Meadows, and “Leroy” won very impressively – so impressively, in fact, that Belcher and P T Stable had no hesitation to put him in for a $20,000 tag in the $11,000 claiming handicap pace. And Leroy Gibbs justified this confidence (and that of the crowd, which bet him down to 2-1) by riding outside the entire mile, yet still drawing off in the stretch to be the easiest of winners in 1:54.3 for driver Ridge Warren.
 
Warren took closing night honors with four victories; Brandon Givens had three successes in the sulky, and George Napolitano Jr. and Jack Pelling had doubles. On the training side, there were five doubles, by Tony Alagna, Bob Belcher, Scott Brockwell, Ron Burke, and Scott Di Domenico.
 
As it was the final night of the 2025 season, all bets normally “carryovers” were paid out even if nobody had a perfect ticket. The Pick 5 consisted of winners sent off at 9-2, 2-1, 16-1, and 23-1 in the first four legs, and even with a $2.20 horse in the last segment, nobody had all five, so those with four of five winners received $318.60 for a 50-cent wager.
 
Indeed, only three of fifteen favorites won on Wednesday, as further evidenced by these statistics: there was a 50-cent Superfecta returning $5226.80 and four more paying over $1000, and the two Pick 4 50-cent wagers paid $6789.05 and $2348.45 – and all of these last seven had at least one winning combination sold.
 
Tim Tetrick won his eleventh Harrah’s driving victory crown with 187 visits to Victory Lane; he and George Napolitano Jr., who was second in 2025, have been the only two Harrah’s leaders in sulky wins since Cat Manzi claimed the title in the oval’s inaugural campaign of 2006. Tetrick also won his twelfth UDR title with a “batting average” of .420 – only 1/1000th behind Joe Bongiorno’s all-time Philly mark of .421..
 
Trainer Izzy Estrada, who was particularly devastating with first-time starters for his barn, captured his first training win championship with 66 winners coming from his shedrow. Åke Svanstedt captured his second straight UTR title at Philly, and this year he rung up a .523 percentage, a single season local mark!
 
Live racing resumes at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Friday, April 10, 2026; the track will stay open for simulcasting wagering. In addition, Philly’s PHHA “sister track,” Pocono, opens its 2026 live season on Saturday, February 13.