Quaker Stakes wrap up Big Butler Fair action

by Jerry Connors, for the PA Harness Racing Commission

Prospect, PA — Continuing to bounce back remarkably after Thursday’s rainout, the twicearound oval at the Big Butler Fair yielded its fastest mile of the week in Quaker State Stakes action Saturday (June 29) — a 2:03.1 victory to Royal Native in a division of the Quaker 3-year-old pace (Quakers are not split by sex).

The daughter of Allamerican Native, owned by trainer Joe Torok in partnership with Wayne Glessner, disdained a first-turn tuck and marched straight to the lead, rattling off a :29.3 backside en route to the easy triumph while also taking a lifetime mark.

The driver of Royal Native? Regular readers of this space would probably guess Steve Schoeffel — and they’d be right. Actually, Steve took all three divisions of sophomore action Saturday as driver, giving him 19 sulky successes during the five fair cards he has participated in during 2013.

Schoeffel also won the other division of the sophomore pace with the I Am A Fool gelding Bound To Score, who is trained by Mike Gillock for Paula Sokol and truck driver/groom/MSOA president/co-owner Rich Gillock. The winner briefly misstepped just past the go but quickly was righted and sent sail for a lead he never reliquished, coming home in :30 at the end of his 2:04.4 triumph.

The 3-year-old pace was the only event of the four to split.

On the trotting side, the Cash Hall gelding Luminosity and Schoeffel never looked back, with a 1:01.1 back half (over a track where 2:03 is the all-time track trotting record) wrapping up an easy 2:06.2 triumph. Schoeffel ran his training win total at the fairs to 18 as the conditioner of the Maxx Fortune Stable’s hometown winner.

The freshman trotting daughter of SJ’s Caviar-Bonne Nuit named She Nuit notched her first lifetime score in 2:15.3. Bill Daugherty, Jr. guided the winner for owner-trainer Joe Urban.

The day’s opener, the 2-year-old pace, was the most exciting, as Loafer Lauxmont and Twowords Of Advise battled most of the length of the stretch before the latter threw a nose across the wire first in 2:11 for her initial win. Trainer/driver Aaron Johnston also co-owns the daughter of Western Terror with Thomas Taylor, another Butler-based winner.

PA Fair action moves on to a two-day event at the Dayton Fair this coming Saturday and Sunday; entries for both days will be taken on the Fourth of July.

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