by Jerry Connors, for the PA Harness Racing Commission
Bedford, PA — Harness racing returned to the Bedford PA half-mile oval Monday for the first time in 23 years, with an excellent card of Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes for 3-year-olds, rewarding the work of Jake Hoover, leader of the Bedford revival, and his coworkers over a track that is usually used for a different kind of horsepower under the name “Bedford Speedway.”
And it seems appropriate that in the first harness race in Bedford in 8,353 days, Roger Hammer would emerge victorious. The eight-time national UDR champ and longtime resident put Rusty Ruddy on the lead, and the altered son of SJ’s Caviar, already a winner of a Stallion Series leg in 2013, was able to break the six-race winning streak, and unbeaten skein of 5 at the fairs, of Roe Is Me for trainer/owner Boots Dunn. Also victorious in the 3TC ranks was the Todd Schadel-trained-driven-co-owned Markup Hanover, fastest of the winners in 2:04.3; Schadel’s co-owner is Hall of Famer Jim Simpson, who will testify to Schadel’s early ability to recognize this colt had talent.
The two fastest trots of the day both went in 2:04 – and both were divisional track records for 3-year-old fillies, with the pair trained by Syl King Jr. and driven by Marc Mosher. (The “track records,” because of difficulty in obtaining full historical information, were established to be the fastest time at age/sex/gait from the last meeting in 1990, plus Keystone Famous’s 1:56.3 all-age pace record that is USTA-documentable.)
The filly to actually break the old mark of 2:06.3 was Homepage, a daughter of Tom Ridge who now has an unblemished fair record in three starts for lessee King. The filly who tied her stablemate’s mark 15 minutes later, the Broadway Hall filly Chrissy O, had the more dramatic storyline behind her mile, as she was up against the streaking Monroe County, winner of five “on the trot” at the fairs, setting records in three of them. But Monroe County, starting from the trailing post seven, put herself at a huge disadvantage with an early gallop, and although according to eyewitnesses made up nearly as much ground as she did during her “massive recovery from early interference” win at Gratz, Chrissy O had opened up a huge space and won comfortably for owners Ron Silletto and Joseph Benedetti Jr.
Fastest pace of the day was the 1:58.4 rung up by 3PF Have More Wine, part of a siring double for Western Terror. And it’s sort of a miracle that this story has progressed this long without mentioning driver Steve Schoeffel – who only won six of the seven races not described above. Schoeffel trains four of them, including this filly, and mom Virginia co-owned three of his trainees and wife Kathy two (their partners on Have More Wine are James Reuther and James Nelson). The two non-trainees Schoeffel paraded home first were members of Team Gillock – trainer Mike and co-owner Richie.
Finishing Lines: Two of harness racing’s finest are in the Bedford Sports Hall of Fame – one of them won today’s first race, and the other, Sam Beegle, has a catch-drive lined up for Tuesday’s 2-year-old action – if the clay track is not besieged by rain before the scheduled first race at 11 a.m.
- Tuesday Bedford racing rained out (Tuesday, July 23, 2013)
Alas, Bedford’s 2013 return to the Pennsylvania fair circuit after 23 years away will consist of only one day of racing.