by Jerry Connors, for the PA Harness Racing Commission

Clearfield, PA — The 3-year-old trotters topped the bill of fare Wednesday (July 31) during the third of the four-day meet at the Clearfield (PA) Fair, and the horse who came within four-fifths of a second of Cottonwood Sam’s all-age track record earned just $606.

Luminosity is an altered son of Cash Hall, who resides in the jurisdiction directly north of the Keystone State, and so he is not eligible for the Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes. But he is eligible to the Quaker State Stakes, which has as its eligibility “PA-sired or wholly PA-owned,” and the Maxx Fortune Stable qualifies on that account, with Luminosity doing the rest — a 35 length triumph in 2:02.4 for Steve Schoeffel, who had three driving and two training wins to maintain a comfortable lead on the 2013 circuit.

But — to paraphrase a local announcer — yesterday Schoeffel’s gold and blue heard “hoofbeats, and they sound like thunder,” in a blue and gold visage: that of Roger Hammer. The multi-time PA fair champion (and eight-time North American UDR king) has had a slow start (by his standards) to his 2013 fair efforts, but he guided four horses back to Victory Lane Wednesday, and just like that he’s among the top five circuit drivers.

Solicitation, a Hammer-owned-trained-driven filly by Tom Ridge, made her seasonal fair bow an impressive one by taking the fastest of her group’s divisions in 2:03.4, only two ticks outside PJ’s Photo’s Clearfield mark for sophomore misses.

Roger came right back to nab the second-fastest cut in 2:04.1 with Lindyofalifetime, a daughter of Cantab Hall who was up by a neck over Chrissy O for trainer Boots Dunn on a day where runaways were more the rule; after this neck decision, there was only one other heat in the ten where the winning margin was less than 4-3/4 lengths.

In addition to Luminosity, Schoeffel won another heat by more than 30 lengths, with the Sires filly Olivet De Vie (though in fairness it must be noted that fair terror Monroe County ran a good part of the early stages of the mile on an off day for her).

Three of the four sections of the colt action beat 2:04, with Schoeffel taking the fastest in 2:03.2 with the Garth Vader gelding Luke Icewalker, and Hammer winning in 2:03.3 with Ruddy Rusty for trainer Dunn and 2:03.4 with Southwind Glider. The win by Ruddy Rusty, an SJ’s Caviar gelding, is worth touching on further, as for the second straight week he defeated Roe Is Me, who had opened the fair campaign with five wins in a row.

The sophomore colts (and throw in Prince Lauxmont, who went to 4-4 at the fairs with a Wednesday win) seem as deep as their freshman counterparts, and should provide much exciting action in the weeks to come.

Finishing Lines: After Clearfield, the Pennsylvania Fair Circuit “splits” for the first time this campaign, with action in the northeast corner of the state at Honesdale, which is experimenting with its two-day meet and fair meet raced Sunday and Monday, and then back Wednesday and Thursday. Some 358 miles to the southwest, the races will set up shop at Waynesburg (birthplace of Dave Palone) for cards on Thursday and Friday.