Hughesville, PA — The horses and horsepeople to be racing at the Lycoming County Fair for the most part had two kinds of luck: not-so-good and then bad.

The 2-year-old program set for Wednesday afternoon (July 10) was raced, but early clockings led to the revelation that the track had been “shortened” fractionally during some offseason work, further prompting officials to disallow all of the winning times with a plan to correct the situation before Thursday’s (July 11) 3-year-old card.

Except that then it rained and rained some more, soaking the fairgrounds half-miler and leading to the cancellation of the Thursday card in the interest of safety.

What good luck there was to be had at Hughesville went to Todd and Tony Schadel, both of whom trained and drove three winners. Todd started the program driving the winners of the first three races and sweeping the “A” filly pace, including posting a second fair victory with his barn’s Sweet Ride Hanover and then catch-driving D’Applesrsweet for trainer-owner Steve Wetzel.

Next was Tony’s turn, as he won two of the three heats for trotting colts with Lionheart Hanover and Baby Tao, while Todd won the other section with pupil Born Silly, his second straight at the fairs. Tony added a third training and driving success with the trotting filly Classy Cocktail, while Todd also brought home a filly trotter he conditions, Casablanca Hanover.

Many other horsemen had top days with their babies. Driver Eric Neal checked home first on three occasions. Wayne Long drove the horse PHR, with whom he had just gotten his 1,000th win, at Meadville, Pa., and that baby won again for owner-trainer Oscar Johnson Jr. despite stepping up from the “B” to the “A” ranks.

Todd Schadel has jumped out to the early lead in both driving (18 wins) and training (17), but many others have had a strong start to their fair campaigns. Aaron Johnston (12), Eric Neal (10), and Shawn Johnston and Wayne Long (tied at 7) rank among the top five pilots, while in second-place among trainers is Zan “Pete” Kaiser, who has been the King Of the “B” Sire Stakes with six victories, with a four-way tie for third behind him, just one back, between Aaron Johnston, Shawn Johnston, Tom Loughry Jr. and Steve Schoeffel.

The Pennsylvania Fair Circuit hopes to leave the rain behind as it travels to Clearfield, Pa., the only four-day stand on the circuit. Racing is scheduled for Sunday (July 14), Monday (July 15) and Wednesday (July 17) at 1 p.m., and for Tuesday (July 16) at a special post time of 5:30 p.m. Fair information is available at www.pafairsracing.org.