MEADVILLE PA – “Youthful veteran” horseman Wayne Long drove career winner number 1000 during Friday’s racing for two-year-olds at a two-day Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes meet at the Crawford County Fairgrounds in this northwest Pennsylvania city. Long guided the Heston Blue Chip – Escape Girl filly PHR to her first (and his 1000th) victory for trainer/owner/former NFL player Oscar Johnson Jr.
Earlier, the 40-year-old had shown an equally-deft touch with the baby trotting misses, sweeping the two “A”” events with first-time purse-race winners while combining with trainer Joyce Lineweaver: the Father Patrick – Giant Clash filly Britta Pillar won for Pillar Stone Farms and the Cantab Hall – Vanity Treasure filly Phanto Treasure tallied for Long, Bill Kreutzer, and Denton Bennett.
Trainer/driver Aaron Johnston achieved a similar sweep in the freshman pacing filly “A” sectors with two-time fair winners: with the Heston Blue Chip – Tremor Hanover distaff Dont Touch My T for owner/wife Jennifer Johnston, and with the Captain Crunch – Olivette Hanover filly Its Written for Jennifer, Chris Oluvic, and Midnight Shadow LLC. The latter filly’s 2:04 clocking tied for fastest freshman time with the Betting Line – A Pippin Hanover gelding Alvin Hanover, driven and trained by Todd Schadel and owned by Todd and wife Christine.
Schadel came back during Saturday’s three-year-old action to lower the Meadville record for three-year-old trotting fillies from 2:02.3 (Monroe County, 2013) to 2:02 with the Fordham Road filly Loveyoubunches, who earlier equaled the all-age track trot mark at Butler with a 2:00 mile. The Schadels co-own Loveyoubunches with Rick and Regina Beinhauer.
Sharing that Butler mark with Loveyoubunches is the International Moni gelding Internationalcraze, also part of Team Schadel/Beinhauer, who at Meadville went in 2:01.2 for the fastest mile by any horse at the meet. Loveyoubunches’s 2:02 was equaled on the pace by the “B” PaFSS winner Dig Deep, the Heston Blue Chip filly who has provided the 18-year-old provisional driver Jesse Barnard the enviable lifetime record of three drives, three wins, all with Dig Deep, whom he also trains and owns.
Among the “A” three-year-old pacers, 2023 Fair Champion Ante Up Hanover won in 2:02.3, the Betting Line gelding a part of the Team Schadel enterprise, and the Sweet Lou filly Sonadora became the only fair competitor with three “A” wins this year after succeeding for driver Aaron Johnston, trainer Nathan Bresnahan, and owner Matthew Miller.
Todd Schadel again led the meet’s drivers and trainers with seven wins in both columns. Next in line at Meadville among drivers were Aaron Johnston (5) and Wayne Long (4); tied for second with three conditioning victories were Aaron Johnston and Joyce Lineweaver.
Next stop on the Pennsylvania Fair Circuit is the Lycoming County Fair in Hughesville PA, with racing on Wednesday and Thursday at 4 p.m.
