By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
WATTSBURG PA – The Pennsylvania fair circuit began its busiest stretch of the entire summer with a Fair Sire Stakes meet on Saturday and Sunday at the Erie County Fairgrounds in this borough in the far northwest corner of Pennsylvania.
The two-year-olds started the action off on Saturday, and the fastest performers on both the trot and the pace were fillies. The fastest of all the freshmen, the Sweet Lou – Takara Rose sidewheeling miss Vegas Queen, certainly was no surprise as the standardsetter – she had won two of her three PaFSS starts, and she was coming off a terrific 1:53 victory at The Meadows. At Wattsburg her 2:05.1 victory for driver Chris Shaw, trainer Neil Balcerak, and owner George Prushnok continued her present sharp form.
Off the past performance lines, it was likely harder to predict who the day’s quickest trotter would be, with the Cantab Hall – BWT Maija distaff Sueeta breaking her maiden in a 2:07.3 day’s best for trainer/driver Steve Schoeffel and the partnership of 518 Group LLC, Ryan Smith, and John Schlabach. But students of pedigree might have remembered that sixteen years ago BWT Maija had produced Pilgrim’s Taj ($996,748), so the potential was deep in the bloodlines.
During Sunday’s racing for three-year-olds, it proved that fillies were the fastest on both gaits as well. Swiftest of all was the Heston Blue Chip filly D’applesrsweet, who missed a divisional track record by two-fifths for the second straight outing– her 1:58 at Clearfield fell just shy of My Gal Phyl’s 22-year-old mark, and at Wattsburg her 2:01 triumph was just short of the 12-year-old standard held by She’salilfireball by the same margin. D’applesrsweet, driven by James Dodson for trainer Ron Lineweaver and owner Steve Wetzel, may soon provide an interesting matchup with Milagro, the 2024 Fair Champion in stakes record time who has five straight “A” wins in 2025 after a 2:03 tally.
Noteworthy winners among the pacing colts were Don’t B Blue (2:01.2) for his third straight fair win and Compensate Me (2:03.1), a double Stallion Series winner and from the barn of the ubiquitously-dominant Ron Burke.
Fastest Wattsburg trot winner was the Cantab Hall filly Classy Cocktail, a 10-time winner at two and a Wattsburg winner in 2:04.4. Fastest trotting male was the Greenshoe gelding Lionheart Hanover, the 2024 Fair Champion who recorded his fifth “A” victory in 2:05.3.
The white-hot Team Tony / Linda, driver Tony Schadel and trainer-wife Linda, continued their formful way with four winners on Saturday and five on Sunday (including both fast trotters mentioned just above) to build a good lead in the seasonal standings. Of their nine wins at Wattsburg, they share ownership of every one of the winners.
The trotters and pacers will next move on to the Wayne County Fair in Honesdale PA, 317 miles away in the farthest northeast corner of Pennsylvania, with two-year-old set for 3 p.m. action on Wednesday and three-year-olds taking to the track at noon on Thursday after drawing on Monday. In all, the Fair Sire Stakes will be making nine stops during the month of August. More information can be found at the Fair Horsemen’s Association website, www.pafairsracing.org.
WATTSBURG PA – The Pennsylvania fair circuit began its busiest stretch of the entire summer with a Fair Sire Stakes meet on Saturday and Sunday at the Erie County Fairgrounds in this borough in the far northwest corner of Pennsylvania.
The two-year-olds started the action off on Saturday, and the fastest performers on both the trot and the pace were fillies. The fastest of all the freshmen, the Sweet Lou – Takara Rose sidewheeling miss Vegas Queen, certainly was no surprise as the standardsetter – she had won two of her three PaFSS starts, and she was coming off a terrific 1:53 victory at The Meadows. At Wattsburg her 2:05.1 victory for driver Chris Shaw, trainer Neil Balcerak, and owner George Prushnok continued her present sharp form.
Off the past performance lines, it was likely harder to predict who the day’s quickest trotter would be, with the Cantab Hall – BWT Maija distaff Sueeta breaking her maiden in a 2:07.3 day’s best for trainer/driver Steve Schoeffel and the partnership of 518 Group LLC, Ryan Smith, and John Schlabach. But students of pedigree might have remembered that sixteen years ago BWT Maija had produced Pilgrim’s Taj ($996,748), so the potential was deep in the bloodlines.
During Sunday’s racing for three-year-olds, it proved that fillies were the fastest on both gaits as well. Swiftest of all was the Heston Blue Chip filly D’applesrsweet, who missed a divisional track record by two-fifths for the second straight outing– her 1:58 at Clearfield fell just shy of My Gal Phyl’s 22-year-old mark, and at Wattsburg her 2:01 triumph was just short of the 12-year-old standard held by She’salilfireball by the same margin. D’applesrsweet, driven by James Dodson for trainer Ron Lineweaver and owner Steve Wetzel, may soon provide an interesting matchup with Milagro, the 2024 Fair Champion in stakes record time who has five straight “A” wins in 2025 after a 2:03 tally.
Noteworthy winners among the pacing colts were Don’t B Blue (2:01.2) for his third straight fair win and Compensate Me (2:03.1), a double Stallion Series winner and from the barn of the ubiquitously-dominant Ron Burke.
Fastest Wattsburg trot winner was the Cantab Hall filly Classy Cocktail, a 10-time winner at two and a Wattsburg winner in 2:04.4. Fastest trotting male was the Greenshoe gelding Lionheart Hanover, the 2024 Fair Champion who recorded his fifth “A” victory in 2:05.3.
The white-hot Team Tony / Linda, driver Tony Schadel and trainer-wife Linda, continued their formful way with four winners on Saturday and five on Sunday (including both fast trotters mentioned just above) to build a good lead in the seasonal standings. Of their nine wins at Wattsburg, they share ownership of every one of the winners.
The trotters and pacers will next move on to the Wayne County Fair in Honesdale PA, 317 miles away in the farthest northeast corner of Pennsylvania, with two-year-old set for 3 p.m. action on Wednesday and three-year-olds taking to the track at noon on Thursday after drawing on Monday. In all, the Fair Sire Stakes will be making nine stops during the month of August. More information can be found at the Fair Horsemen’s Association website, www.pafairsracing.org.
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