Schoeffel and Wright combine for five at Meadville

by Millard Beatty III, the Delaware Valley Chapter of the U.S. Harness Writers’ Association

Woodlyn, PA — There were a total of five harness races held at the Crawford County Fair in Meadville, Pennsylvania on Tuesday (August 23) and Stephen Schoeffel won three of them and Lester Wright took the other two.

In the first race of the day, a PASS Sires Stake for two-year-old colts and geldings, Stephen Schoeffel took the “hot” two-year-old gelding pacer out of Dragon’s Lair, Slayer Of Dragons, to a 2:07 win. Realist Hanover, with Winston Lineweaver in the bike, was second, Western Duke finished third with Charles Flickinger in the sulky, and Parkway Spur was fourth with Leo Harvey at the reins. It was Slayer Of Dragons’ third win in the Fair Circuit and his earnings topped him over $5,300, which ranks him third behind Realist Hanover and leader Keystone Rideau, who has the week off.

In the second race it was a “first” for both the horse and the driver. Driver Lester Wright picked up his first win this year in his ninth start and two-year-old filly Angel On Top picked up her first win out of eight starts in the PASS for two-year-old fillies, with a 2:07.3 win. With Angel On Top’s win, it moves her to fourth in earnings in the PASS two-year-old filly pacer class.

In the third race, a Free For All event for trotters, it was the famous ESPN sports announcer namesake, Boomer Berman, taking the finish line in 2:08.2 with Stephen Schoeffel in the bike. It was Boomer Berman’s fourth win out of six starts in the overnight series and he has taken a commanding lead over trotter Keystone Spark, who only has two wins.

The fourth race was a Free For All event for another group of trotters and Stephen Schoeffel drove Karl Schoeffel’s four-year-old gelding Bretty Boy to a 2:12 win. It was the first start for Bretty Boy in the overnight series. Bretty Boy has a 2:00.1 mark this year. He has 21 starts with three wins, five seconds and three thirds and over $10,000 in winnings.

In the fifth race of the day, a Quaker State event for two-year-old pacers, Sarah’s Legacy scored for the third time, winning in 2:08.3. He beat a field of six and took the lead as the overall two-year-old pacer with three wins and over $2,600 in earnings.

Stephen Schoeffel and Timmy Offutt tied for wins in Quaker State division

Last year it was the battle between the “young gun” Timmy Offutt and Roger Hammer for leading driver in the Quaker State division. This year it is Timmy Offutt and Stephen Schoeffel.

With Roger Hammer, Todd Schadel and Timmy Offutt taking off this week, Stephen Schoeffel is starting to pick up wins in every division. As of Tuesday, Stephen has won four races in the PASS division, two in the Quaker State division and two in the overnight.

With his two wins in the Quaker State, Stephen is now tied with Timmy Offutt with a total of eight wins. Stephen has one more drive in the Quaker State division as he is listed to drive three-year-old pacer Schemes in the first race.

Stephen Schoeffel is having a record breaking season and the fair season is only five-eighths completed. With eight meets still left, Stephen has seven more wins in the PASS this year then all of last year.

Here are two-year-old stats to date in the PASS Fair Circuit.

Year-Starts-Wins-Seconds-Thirds-UDR
2005-104-24-33-19-.468
2004-99-17-17-17-.324

Stephen still ranks third overall this year and is only eight wins behind second place driver Roger Hammer.

For more driver and trainer stats on the Pennsylvania Sires Stake and Quaker Stake Fair Circuit and also Pennsylvania Breeders monies and Pennsylvania Fair Points you can go to the web: http://www.standardbredbreederspa.org.

Racing continues on Wednesday (August 24) at the Crawford County Fair in Meadville for all divisions of the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes. Post time on Wednesday is at 12:00 noon and post time for Thursday (August 25) is at 11:00 a.m.

Wednesday features three-year-old fillies Bellissimo and Rosebud Sioux racing for the first time in 2005 in the PASS Fair Circuit for the Dunn Stable. Last year they both raced mainly on the Fair Circuit and both had outstanding years. This year Rosebud Sioux has won three races and over $40,000 on the pari-mutuel tracks.

B S Woody, going for number eight, battles four other trotters in a PASS for three-year-old colts and geldings.

Artist Of Love, the top pacer in the overnight series, has the rail and goes against six others. Artist Of Love is looking for her sixth win.

There are a total of five races, two PASS, two Quaker State and one overnight event.

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