Ken Weingartner

Hightstown, NJ — An injury prevented Fordham Road from making a name for himself on the track. As the sire of two finalists in Saturday’s $252,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship for 2-year-old female trotters, the stallion might start to get noticed now, six years after his brief racing career came to an end.

Loveyoubunches and Little Town Road will represent Fordham Road in the PaSS final for rookie filly trotters at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs. Loveyoubunches led the division in points while Little Town Road was third. The two enter Saturday’s race with a combined 11 wins in 17 starts and $183,275 in purses.

Cody Schadel trains Loveyoubunches for his parents, Todd and Christine, and Rick and Regina Beinhauer. The Beinhauers own Fordham Road with Tom Pontone’s T L P Stable. Loveyoubunches is out of the Beinhauers’ mare Lovebeinglucky.

Loveyoubunches has hit the board in all six of her races, winning four and earning $104,836. Chris Gooden photo.

Roger Hammer bred, owns, trains and drives Little Town Road, who is out of Hammer’s mare A Little Laid Back.

The remainder of the eight-horse field includes three fillies from the stable of trainer Ake Svanstedt (morning-line favorite Sierra Girl, She Shaq, and Slip Sliding Away) and one each from trainers Lucas Wallin (The Moment), Marcus Melander (Landaluci) and Noel Daley (Paulina Hanover). The Moment, Slip Sliding Away and Paulina Hanover are by Father Patrick. Sierra Girl is by Bar Hopping, She Shaq is by Southwind Frank and Landaluci is by Greenshoe.

“Fordham Road has had a fantastic year,” Rick Beinhauer said. “It’s been exciting, especially when your partner and your friends have two of the best ones. Roger and I have been friends since we were 16 years old. We’ve been good friends all along.

“I hope he has luck too, just not quite as much as us,” Beinhauer added with a laugh. “I’m just teasing. I hope everybody has a safe trip and the best horse wins. It could be a really exciting race. We’re glad to be in it.”

The Beinhauers bought the T L P-bred Fordham Road, a son of Holiday Road-Half Ours, for $40,000 at the 2016 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. When Pontone called Rick Beinhauer to congratulate him on purchasing the horse, Beinhauer invited him to buy back in.

Fordham Road, trained and driven by Rick, won two qualifiers before capturing his career debut in a conditioned race at Mohawk Park. In his next start, he won the lone division of an Ontario Sire Stakes Gold leg in 1:57.1 at Georgian Downs, just three-fifths of a second off the track record for a 2-year-old trotting colt.

Following the race, Fordham Road returned to Beinhauer’s farm in Pennsylvania, where he suffered a career-ending injury while turned out.

“He was meant to be a really good horse,” Beinhauer said. “He was a really handsome colt.”

Fordham Road bred a total of 35 mares his first two years at stud, producing 16 starters that have combined for $591,390. Loveyoubunches and Little Town Road are second and third, respectively, on the money list, behind 3-year-old colt Battin Athousand.

Loveyoubunches has hit the board in all six of her races, winning four and earning $104,836. Two of her victories came in the preliminary rounds of the sire stakes, one other in a division of the Pennsylvania All-Stars. She will start Saturday from post one with Todd Schadel driving for his 21-year-old son, Cody, who is in his first year as a trainer.

“It’s going well; I’m excited about the final,” Cody Schadel said. “She’s been racing good. When we trained her down, she never did anything wrong, but it seemed like some other ones might be better. Then she got out in a race, and it just kicked in.

“It should be interesting. I never thought something like this would happen this soon for me. It would be pretty exciting (to win).”

Loveyoubunches heads to the final off a second-place finish behind Sierra Girl, who won all three of her PASS prelims and is 5-2 on the morning line from post five. Loveyoubunches is 10-1.

“Todd is a good friend and we’ve been partners on some other horses over the years,” Beinhauer said. “He does a great job. He’s a good horseman and he knows (Loveyoubunches) well. She’s quick off the gate and she can get home good.”

Little Town Road will leave from post two for driver Brady Brown and is 12-1. She finished fourth in her most recent PASS prelim on Aug. 20 but has picked up two wins at the fairs since then. Her best win time of 1:55.1 at Harrah’s Philadelphia has been bettered by only two other 2-year-old fillies on a five-eighths-mile track this season.

“I watched her the day she went in (1):55.1, and she went that mile effortlessly; she was well in hand,” Beinhauer said. “Both of us have a chance to win. It’s going to be tough, but it’s horseracing. It’s how the race sets up, and we just need a little bit of luck. It’ll be fun.”

Saturday’s PASS championships are carded as races nine through 12. First-race post time is 1 p.m. (EDT). For free programs for Pocono Downs, visit the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association website here.