Stoneboro PA --- On the good side, the 2-year-old trotting filly Peoplesayimnotgood equaled a divisional track record of 2:04.2 in winning Friday (Aug. 29) at the Great Stoneboro Fair in northwestern PA, while the winningest 2-year-old pacers in North America this year, filly Tropical Terror (13) and gelding Nippy (11), added to their win totals atop the freshman boys and girls.
On the not-so-good side, yet again does a story come out of the Pennsylvania Fair Circuit with no mention of any 3-year-old appearing in the first paragraph.
There have been four rainouts on the Pennsylvania circuit this year, three full cards and one where only two races were held. All four of the soggy cards were to feature 3-year-old racing, with a total of 42 races lost due to the foul weather. And they’ve all come in the last three weeks: Washington on Aug. 11, Dayton on Aug. 13, Meadville on Aug. 20, and now Stoneboro on Aug. 31.
But back to sunnier news -- literally and figuratively.
Although not known at the time, the Lear Jetta filly Peoplesayimnogood sent the meet out with a bang when she equaled the 2011 Stoneboro 2-year-old filly trot record of Magnolia Grace when she won the day’s final heat in 2:04.2. For owner/trainer/driver Roger Hammer, it was the third winner of the day, pairing with another filly trot winner, Massive Looker, and the homebred Rustlercafe, who won his eighth straight Quaker State event in 2:03.3.
In fact, that 2:04.2 becomes more impressive when one realizes that the fastest time in three divisions of the 2-year-old filly pace event was just a tick faster at 2:04.1. That winner would have been Tropical Terror, who paced to her 13th win in 14 starts (a half-length loss her only blemish), home again first for Team Shaw -- driver Chris Shaw, trainer/brother Jason, and owner Mason Shaw, Jason’s 2-year-old son.
The Shaws also have their filly’s closest “colt” counterpart, the Nuclear Breeze gelding Nippy, who had what would be the fastest clocking of the meet, 2:02.4. In fact, the Shaws took the last two of the four divisions of this event, adding on their Marshmallow Pulse, a Quik Pulse Mindale gelding, notching his 10th victory of the campaign in 2:03.2.
Young Mason Shaw, college trust fund already in hand, must think this harness game is an easy one, as these three 2-year-olds of his have earned $92,972 collectively in the 2-1/2 months of the Keystone twicearound circuit, with a staggering combined record of 41-34-7-0.
Top visitor to the winner’s circle on Friday was driver Steve Schoeffel, who paraded home four winners, including a sweeping of the 2-year-old colt trot stake with a pair of Muscle Massive geldings (Muscle Massive also sired filly trot winner Massive Looker, mentioned above). First came Wimborne Hanover, who has already won three Stallion Series races at the pari-mutuel tracks for trainer Bill Daugherty Jr. and owner Susan Daugherty, and then was the faster of the two, Police Navidad, one of three winners from the Schoeffel barn, who went in 2:06.4 for Steve’s mom Virginia, wife Kathy, Lander Stables LLC, and James Reuther.
The Pennsylvania fair circuit now “heads east” for its final four regular-season stops before the $200,000 Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes Championship Night on Saturday (Oct. 4). The first stop is Port Royal, which has twilight racing for 2-year-olds at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday and competition for 3-year-olds at high noon Wednesday.