By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Beaudenblues N picked up his first U.S. victory in the $15,000 pacing section of the featured class Tuesday afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, while Bourbon Courage got back into the win column after an absence of almost two years in the trotting feature.
 
The Beaudenblues N, a Betterthancheddar gelding trained by Jose Godinez for Godinez Racing Stable LLC and Jhonatan Garcia Guia, worked hard to a :27.1 quarter to get by favored Hard To Catch, then yielded to the frontstretch brush of Forward Look. The last-named pacer put up the middle splits of :55.3 and 1:23.1, with Hard To Catch on the move again on the far turn, but driver Anthony Napolitano was able to summon the needed rally in the Pocono Pike as Thebeaudenblues N to go past Forward Look by three-quarters of a length. The winner’s final time was 1:51.2.
 
Bourbon Courage, a son of You Know You Do who was a stakes winner in Indiana and Kentucky at two but had not been able to regain that form, showed powerful strides in taking the diamondgaited feature in 1:54.4. Ridge Warren raced Bourbon Courage just off of fractions of :28.2, :56.2, and 1:25.1, then moved out to sweep to the lead nearing headstretch and drew off by two lengths over Creedmore. Erv Miller trains the resurgent trotter for Doug Overhiser, D & M Trading II LLC, and Anthony Lombardi.
 
Anthony Napolitano also won both ends of the Late Double to make him leading driver on the day with four victories.
 
Racing resumes on Saturday at Pocono at 1 p.m., with the feature a $22,000 pace for Pennsylvania-sired three-year-old colt pacers, giving some of the entrants a race before they go to The Meadows for their final Sire Stakes/Stallion Series prelim next Friday night. Free Pocono programs are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Two-year-old trotting fillies met in their fourth and final preliminary leg of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series on Monday afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, looking to secure themselves a spot in their upcoming rich Championship events as the track surface slowly improved throughout the day.
 
Daughters of Greenshoe won both of the $79,569 Sire Stakes divisions. Princess Jackie (dam Frisky Magic) became the only three-time Sire Stakes winner (one at every track) when she took a new mark of 1:55 over a track then rated “good.” Jim Marohn Jr. moved the filly to the top after a :28.4 opener, established a clear lead at the :57 half, dealt with the first-over Ms Prada before and after the 1:25.4 three-quarters, then withstood the pocketsitter Seal The Deal AS by half a length. Princess Jackie, now four for five in her brief career, has earned $128,661 just in the Sire Stakes for trainer-owner D. R. Ackerman.
 
The track had been rerated to “fast” by the time Divine Thing (dam A Thing Goin On) was victorious in 1:54.4, just a tick beyond her time in winning a Meadows Sire Stake in her last outing. David Miller guided Divine Thing to the pocket amidst some early confusion and was content to wait while Country Victory laid down splits of :27.4, :57.3, and 1:26.3. Divine Thing then came her own last quarter in :27.4 to win by a half length over the pacesetter for trainer Steve Carter and the partnership of Jay Mossbarger, Brent Hopper, and Kyle Gray, for whom the filly has won $105,823 in the PaSS and also has a victory in the Kentucky program.
 
After four $20,000 divisions of Stallion Series events on Monday, another daughter of Greenshoe, Saints Preserve Us (dam Firm To Stay) remained undefeated in three lifetime starts, all of them Stallion Series races (and one at each state pari-mutuel oval) with a 1:56.2 lifetime mark after the track had been upgraded to “good”. Matt Kakaley guided Saints Preserve Us for trainer Jim Campbell and Runthetable Stables.
 
Saints Preserve Us was in fact the only filly among the Stallion Series winners to have won before Monday, in the StS or at all in their young careers.  The biggest surprise among the maidenbreakers was the Southwind Frank – Andovermizbrenda filly Bizzy Brenda, who took her cut at a $124.40 mutuel, second-highest of the year at Pocono. Trained by Karen Garland, Bizzy Brenda was driven by Steve Smith to a maiden mark of 1:57.3 (good track), and Smith is also co-owner Joseph Di Leo.
 
The track was still rated “sloppy” for the first two Stallion Series contests. Southwind Frank picked up another StS credit when Serena’s Girl (dam Muscle Work) got her first win in 1:57.1 for trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt and Little E LLC. Can It Be Magic, a daughter of Cantab Hall – Blonde Magic, also earned her first victory in the other Stallion Series cut, also posting a time of 1:57.1 for driver Mike Wilder, trainer Dan Altmeyer, and the ownership of Ruth Altmeyer, June and Thomas Durand, and Heather Wilder.
 
Tuesday’s 1 p.m. program closes out Sun Stakes Saturday week at Pocono, with a $15,000 feature for developing horses on each gait to be featured, along with a carryover in the fifth race Pick 5 wager. Free Pocono programs are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
MEADVILLE PA – Four “ladies” captured the spotlight during Saturday and Sunday’s Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes action at the Crawford County Fairgrounds in this city in northwest Pennsylvania.
 
First to shine was the International Moni – Nightflix Hanover filly H Moni Winner, who lowered the Meadville record for freshman trotting fillies to 2:03.2 from A Little Laid Back’s 2015 standard of 2:04.1. Chris Shaw sat behind the filly for the first time in a race during Saturday’s two-year-old action, and he and H Moni Hanover bonded well right away for trainer Dana Kahrig and owner Joseph Burkholder.
 
21-year-old Elizabeth Snyder was not originally scheduled to drive Golden Magic in Saturday’s last race, but the trainer (and her father) Doug Snyder put her up for her first drive in as pressureless a situation as a newcomer could want – a walkover. Elizabeth got the job done with the Always B Miki filly – thus immediately putting her UDR at 1.000.
 
The three-year-olds came out for Sunday’s racing, and in the day’s very first race the Betting Line filly Showboat Hanover, the 2023 Fair Championship winner, smashed the track record of 2:00.3 (held by two very good fillies named Unbeamlieveable and Camera Lady) for her pacing group, touring the Meadville twicearound in 1:59 for the fastest time of the meet. Trainer/driver Todd Schadel is also co-owner of Showboat Hanover with wife Christine and Caitlin Solt.
 
The blue and white colors of Schadel were back out in force in the three-year-old filly trot, winning one of the “A” sections and both of the “B”s. If you had to guess which one of these winners would lower their section’s standard to 2:01.1 while coming within a tick of Classicality’s 2013 all-time Meadville trot mark of 2:01, you could be forgiven if you guessed Loveyoubunches, who has set four fair track records this summer and who did win in the “A” section.
 
However, the correct answer would be a “B” division winner! The International Moni filly Jakarta Hanover, a winner of a division of the Lady Suffolk Trot at Freehold, visited the fairs and promptly hung up that 2:01.1 clocking for the ownership of Todd Schadel and Jim Simpson (a good day for the Hall Of Famer, who also was an owner of a Stallion Series winner at Philly).
 
No points for guessing who the leading driver and trainer was at Meadville (hint: it was the same person), but also having an excellent stand were drivers Eric Neal and Chris Shaw, who had four winners each, and trainer Tom Loughry Jr., who harnessed three successful horses.
 
After eight cards in eight days, even the Pennsylvania Fair Circuit now gets to take a rest. A very short rest – they’ll be drawing Tuesday for racing at Indiana PA on Thursday and Friday, with both cards slated to start at 2 p.m.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​​CHESTER PA –The Father Patrick – Dip Me Hanover colt Father TJ set a track record of 1:54.1 in winning one of two $79,968 divisions of the last preliminary round of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for two-year-old trotting males Sunday at Harrah’s Philadelphia, reducing the former mark of One In A Lifetime by a tick.
 
The betting favorite worked his way to the lead past Meshuggah after a :28.2 quarter, then went on to light up the timer with splits of :57.3 and 1:26 under Tyler Buter’s direction. Meshuggah didn’t gain late on the winner, who triumphed by 3¼ lengths while also setting a new lifetime mark and joining Fashion Green, absent Sunday, as the only two-time Sire Stakes winners in his group. Father TJ is trained by Jeff Cullipher and owned by him and Pollack Racing LLC.
 
There were two ways to win a stake at Philly on Sunday – set a track record, or be a son of Bar Hopping. The latter was the route taken by Portobarosso AS NL (dam Measuredperfection), but he wasn’t far away from also using the other path as he lowered his mark to 1:54.3. After fractions of :28.4 and :58.1, the Dutch-bred had to come on the grind first-over through and past a 1:26.2 three-quarters, but went past favored temposetter Elan Hanover by 1½ lengths for driver Corey Callahan, trainer Julie Miller, and Atlantic Trot Inc.
 
With only one third in the Sire Stakes prior to this race, Portobarosso AS NL needed a win to possibly reach his Championship; an unofficial tally after the races saw him in the eighth and final spot, but all official pointstandings totals are administered by the Standardbred division of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission.
 
Bar Hoppings swept the four $20,000 Stallion Series races, with the quickest the gelding Gimlet Hanover (dam Ginger Tree Bren), a winner of his second straight Stallion Series contest while taking a mark of 1:56 win for driver Jim Marohn Jr. and trainer-owner D. R. Ackerman. Another winner was the gray colt Messenger Hanover (dam Musetta Hanover), who seems to like the recent addition of trotting hopples as he took a maiden mark of 1:57.2 for driver David Miller, trainer Ron Burke, and Burke Racing Stable LLC, Beasty LLC, Jim Simpson, and J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby.
 
The other two StS cuts were conducted over “sloppy” going, and both were won by geldings driven by Tyler Buter, who had four Philly successes. The only two horses who had won more than one Stallion Series race prior to this card drew in together, and Hey Porter (dam Chelsees A Winner) took his third straight win in this stake in 1:57.2, beating three-time StS winner Scudo Hanover, for trainer Tony Alagna and owner Steve Stewart. Buter came back in the next race with Pantofolaio (dam Mad Elf), lowering his mark to 1:57.4 for trainer Mark Harder, co-owner with Dean Lockhart, Wayne Carleton, and Jeffery Ruch.
 
Before the rains came, the Bettor’s Delight gelding Mac’s Delight won the $15,000 fast-class pace in 1:50.3, and with style for driver Corey Callahan and Team Cancelliere, trainer Tom and owner John. Dead last at the half and ten lengths behind, Mac’s Delight streaked up uncovered while pacing his own third quarter in :25.4 to gain contention, then drew away to a clear victory.
 
Racing resumes at Philly on Thursday at 12:25; free Philly programs are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Driver Jason Bartlett, second in the North American earnings table, added to his totals with four winners on Sunday night at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, including a sweep of the $17,000 trotting features and the $16,500 top pace, all the winners setting lifetime marks.
 
Faster of the two trotting winners was Bellissino Face S, a gelded son of Raja Mirchi, who led throughout fractions of :26.4, :56.2, and 1:24.3, then moved effortlessly to the wire to win over Partner Dolan by 4¾ lengths in 1:52.3. The import looks headed for better things for trainer Per Engblom, who is also co-owner with Kasper Foget.
 
Father Stosh did not have an easy trip from the outside post eight in the other trotting headliner, but Bartlett coaxed enough out of the son of Father Patrick to get him to the wire a head to the good of Chezactic while reducing his mark to 1:53.3. Involved at several points in a mile with fractions of :27, :55.3, and 1:23.3, Father Stosh was most involved when it most counted, winning for trainer Jill Roland and owner Bernard O’Brien.
 
In the $16,500 top-drawer claiming handicap pace, the Sweet Lou gelding Lunar parked 12-time seasonal winner Shoobee Doo A a good part of a :26 quarter, sat attached in the pocket through midfractions of :54.3 and 1:21.3, then came outside for Bartlett and caught the pacesetter by a half length while taking a new mark of 1:48.4. The winner, 17-for-39 in his career, is trained by Ron Burke for Burke Racing Stable LLC, Phil Collura, Knox Services Inc., and J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby. If the top two are to square off again in their next start, Shoobee Doo A will be coming out of a new barn, as he was haltered for $40,000 out of this race (he’s already made $115,965 this year).
 
It was a good night for drivers wearing red (or close to red) and white: Bartlett had four wins, Matt Kakaley three, George Napolitano Jr two, and Anthony Napolitano one.
 
Pennsylvania-sired two-year-old trotting fillies will go in their final preliminary in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series on Monday’s 1 p.m. card, looking to cinch spots in their early September Championships, The favorites in the two divisions of the Sire Stakes, Ms Prada and Divine Thing, are both daughters of hot sire Greenshoe. Free Pocono programs are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
MEYERSDALE PA – The two-year-olds were the stars of the show during two days of racing at the Somerset County Fairgrounds in this southwest Pennsylvania borough, as the babies set two track records and produced the fastest mile of the meet.
 
The Cantab Hall – Lucky Witch freshman trotting filly Lucky Station trotted the half-mile Meyersdale oval in 2:07.3 to lower the divisional standard set by Miss Class in 2022 by two-fifths of a second. Aaron Johnston trains and drove the new recordholder for his wife Jennifer and co-owner Brian Taylor. The filly’s feat was even more impressive considering that Classy Cocktail, a six-time winner and fair season’s recordholder for this group, had to settle for second.
 
Baby Tao knocked a fifth off the parallel standard for males by posting a 2:04.3 clocking. The altered son of Bar Hopping opened his fair campaign with a win, then recorded six straight seconds before winning a tick faster than former recordholder Blame It On Texas, set last year, for trainer/driver Tony Schadel, co-owner with wife Linda and Presli Poletti. (And Linda finished second with Lionheart Hanover in her first drive of the year.)
 
The Sweet Lou – Breakheart Pass gelding has now won in all three starts, in sub-2:01 time, since coming to the fairs and trainer Jeffrey Indof; here he paced the quickest mile of the two days of racing, 2:00.4, for driver Aaron Johnston and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.
 
Youthful veteran horseman Bob Krenitsky Jr. closed out Thursday’s action with his first-ever driving victory behind Wine Chaser.
 
The swiftest clocking during Friday’s three-year-old competition was turned in by a trotter. The Fordham Road filly Little Town Road, the 2023 Fair Championship winner, went in a brisk 2:01.4 for veteran owner/trainer/driver Roger Hammer. In eight fair starts this year, Little Town Road has two wins, one break, and five seconds to Loveyoubunches; before that she had posted thirds in three pari-mutuel stakes races, two Stallion Series events and a Pennsylvania All-Stars contest.
 
Aaron Johnston won both the drivers and trainers derby at Meyersdale. He guided five winners, with brother Shawn and Tony Schadel next in line with three; his four training triumphs was one more than the figure posted by Tony Schadel.
 
The marathon week of PA fair harness racing comes to a close at the Crawford County Fairgrounds in Meadville PA, where there will be 1 p.m. programs on both Saturday and Sunday.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – It was the Yannick Gingras Show at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Friday afternoon, as the Hall Of Fame horseman drove ten winners, equaling the Harrah’s one-day record set by George Napolitano Jr. on November 11, 2009 and again on September 17, 2015.
 
Gingras also won the first seven contests on the card, missing the known record for consecutive wins on one card by one. Before the Trotting and Pacing Guide was streamlined and put online, it carried three drivers who had won eight consecutive races on a program: Stephane Bouchard (whose wins came in the first eight races at Yonkers one night), Brad Kramer at the Gladwin County (MI) Fair, and Jim Morrill Jr. at Tioga Downs (we’d appreciate hearing from anyone with additional facts). Gingras’s bid for this list was with Ronaldo N, who had not won since June 7, and Yannick raced the horse on the lead with pressure, being caught only in the shadow of the wire by 10-1 shot Rough Odds by a neck.
 
Gingras was second in the ninth race as well, as his stretch leader Mr Dunnigans was caught by the favored Straight Up Cool by half a length. After being away from the Philly winners circle for 57 minutes, Yannick found his way back to its comfortable confines after driving the Always B Miki mare Always B Naughty to a 1:49.1 victory in the day’s $15,000 distaff featured pace.  Always B Naughty regained control past a :26.3 quarter, put up midsplits of :54.4 and 1:22.3, then blitzed home in :26.3 for the easy victory for trainer Nancy Takter, who co-owns the winner of $550,521 with Let It Ride Stables Inc., Odds On Racing, and RBH Ventures Inc.
 
After no drive in the five-horse eleventh race, Gingras won the twelfth with Twin B Fighter and the thirteenth with Real Lucky N, putting him in double figures. Gingras sent Play The Field to the top as he attempted to break the local record, but Just A Rocket Man lived up to his name by putting in a :27 third quarter to sweep past the leader and power on to victory, with Play The Field settling for second. Gingras wound up his day with the ten victories – those horses winning by an aggregate 30¾ lengths.
 
Gingras has won his share of Harrah’s major stakes over the years (his name appears on the track records page three times), and he is one of only three drivers to have won the local UDR title on more than one occasion – the other two are named Napolitano and Tetrick. (If you’re a numbers person, Yannick’s UDR for the day was .897.)
 
In the co-featured $13,500 pace, the Captaintreacherous sophomore filly Donegal Spirit had command a few strides away from the gate and she never relinquished control while taking a new mark of 1:51.1. After putting up fractions of :27, :56.1, and 1:23.4, Donegal Spirit didn’t appear to draw a labored breath yet still shot home in :27.2 for driver Gingras and trainer Andrew Harris, whose A Harris Racing LLC co-owns the sharp filly with William Pollock and Bruce Areman.
 
Sunday’s 12:40 card at Philly features Pennsylvania-sired two-year-old trotting colts in their last preliminaries before their rich Championship events in the Sire Stakes and Stallion Series, to be held in early September. Free Philly programs are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
DAYTON PA – A major theme running through the two days of Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes at the Dayton Fairgrounds was the quantity of horses who already had a nice number of fair wins adding to their totals, especially on Wednesday, when the two-year-olds raced.
 
In the colt divisions, trainer/driver Todd Schadel had a couple of horses fitting that description: one was the Papi Rob Hanover – Well What’s New pacing gelding Wheelhouse Hanover, undefeated in six “A” starts around the double ovals for Todd and co-owner/son Cody after the fastest freshman mile of 2:04 (Todd also swept the freshman colt paces with the “B” win of Alvin Hanover). There is also the Andover Hall – No Excuses trotting colt Andover’s Hotrod, undefeated in five “A” starts and the division’s season’s leader, who won for trainer/driver Schadel as owner in partnership with Calvin Hoover.
 
Four-time “A” winners included the Heston Blue Chip – Tremor Hanover pacing filly Dont Touch My T, trained and driven by Aaron Johnston for his wife Jennifer, and another horse driven by Aaron, the International Moni – K T Bird trotting gelding Mr Hopper, trained by Bill Daugherty Jr. for Susan Daugherty.
 
Keeping up their feud in the sophomore pacing colt ranks on Thursday were Schadelites Ante Up Hanover (6-5-1-0) and Twigg’s Pub (7-5-2-0). The Betting Line gelding Ante Up Hanover, the fastest horse of the fair season at 1:57, won their Dayton battle in the quickest time of the meet, 1:59.2, with Todd co-owning the winner with wife Christine.
 
Trainer/driver Steve Schoeffel swept the “A” events in the three-year-old colt trot: with Bird And Grenade (2:05), a Father Patrick gelding owned by Fair Cousins Stable and Kathy Schoeffel; the latter is also the co-owner of the Greenshoe gelding Cyclone Ben (2:04) with Stephen Lander, Roger Ramesser, and Renee Lovett.
 
Quickest trotter of the Dayton stand was Shady Maple Amber, a daughter of Andover Hall who won in 2:03.4 for driver Chris Shaw, trainer Ashley Brown, and First Up Racing Stable. This race also rates more than a passing glance because Loveyoubunches, who had been undefeated in five fair starts including setting four track records, got a miserable start and never could work back into contention.


A special cheer to 71-year-old Ronald Lubosco, a native New Jerseyan and a resident of Florida. who resumed his training/driver career last year with a one-horse stable, Good Queen Bess, and has added another this year. Good Queen Bess won first-over by a neck in 2:04.2 at Dayton, taking Lubosco to the winners circle for the first time in -- 45 years! (You could look it up!)
 
For the only time this season at the PA Fairs, Thursday was a day when there was action at two fairs – here at Dayton, and racing for two-year-olds at the Somerset County Fair in Meyersdale PA. There will be a full report on the Meyersdale racing after Friday’s sophomore races, which start at noon. The whirlwind week will then conclude with Saturday and Sunday action at 1 p.m. at the Crawford County Fair in Meadville PA.