from the PA Fair Harness Horsemen’s Association

Hughesville, PA — The 2-year-olds took center stage during a marathon card at the Lycoming County Fair here on Thursday (July 21) and the trotters had the lion’s share of the spotlight.

Seth Dowling photo

Toolbox Tuesday was a winner in 2:02.2 on Thursday.

An outstanding mile was turned in by the Broadway Hall gelding Toolbox Tuesday, who a few weeks back had rewritten his divisional standard at Butler. The local 2-year-old colt trot record is a 2:01.4 clocking from 2006 by Light Headed that stood as the all-age track mark for many years and Roger Hammer put Toolbox Tuesday in that zone with scorching fractions of :30.4, 1:00.2 and 1:30.2. The winner finished gallantly, but his final clocking was 2:02.2, which was still by far the season’s record on the local circuit, a new mark for Toolbox Tuesday, and the fastest mile of the day — trotter or pacer — for trainer/driver Hammer, also co-owner with Vicki Fair.

In a later filly contest, trainer/driver Steve Schoeffel sent the Cantab Hall miss Brauti Hanover to the fore and she was a winner in 2:04, just a fifth shy of the Hughesville mark for age, sex, and gait set last year by A Little Laid Back, and also fastest for the circuit this year. Brauti Hanover took a new mark and has now won half her four lifetime trips behind the gate for Virginia and Kathy Schoeffel, James Nelson and the BPN Partnership.

A bit of class was shown by veteran trainer John McMullen Jr. in picking Dave Wade to catch-drive his very nice trotting filly All Set Lets Go in another division of this Sire Stakes contest. McMullen and Wade were in the earlier stages of their respective careers when Wade drove Starlark Hanover to victory at Hughesville during her 1973 freshman campaign, which saw her land national 2-year-old trotting filly honors. And Wade repaid McMullen for his faith by guiding All Set Lets Go to victory, setting easy fractions, then scurrying home in :30.2 to run the Donato Hanover filly’s record to 6-4-1-1-$24,736 for McMullen Stable LLC.

On the pacing side, mention should be made of the Dragon Again filly Camera Lady, who posed for the winner’s circle photographer’s camera for the fifth time already in her career of six starts, dashing home in :29.2 to complete a 2:04 victory for trainer/driver Dave Brickell, also the co-owner with Mitchell York.

The fair circuit next gathers in Bedford for a twilight card on Monday and a morning card on Tuesday.

We close out this report with statistics on the leading drivers and trainers: For Thursday: leading drivers Roger Hammer and Shawn Johnston (3); trainer Roger Hammer (3). For The Meet: drivers Roger Hammer and Cory Kreiser (4); trainer Jason Shaw (5). For The Circuit To Date: drivers Chris Shaw (19), Shawn Johnston (17), and Roger Hammer (13); trainers Jason Shaw (21), Roger Hammer (13), and Rick Beinhauer and Dave Brickell tied with 9.