from the Pennsylvania Fair Harness Horsemen’s Association’s publicity office

Washington, PA — Racing came to this town’s fairgrounds oval, known as Arden Downs during its Grand Circuit days, just down the road from The Meadows for two days of action on Monday and Tuesday (Aug. 17-18).

The standout performance was generally agreed to be the 1:59.1 victory on the first day turned in by the sophomore Nuclear Breeze gelding R N Nate, who ran his fair record for 2015 to 7-6-1-0, with two three-race winning streaks bookending a second at Hughesville. The indomitable Roger Hammer is R N Nate’s breeder, owner, trainer, and driver. The “magic mile” is the sixth of the Pennsylvania fair season, which has not been blessed with the best of weather.

Also among the 3-year-olds, the Andover Hall gelding Simeon kept his fair record perfect after four starts with a 2:05 win for trainer/driver Dave Wade, who also co-owns with Jerry Brittingham, William Peel III, and Delores Wade. Earlier this month, Simeon had tied the all-age trot mark at Clearfield by winning in 2:02.

When the 2-year-olds got their turn on Tuesday, two of them continued remarkable runs of form and consistency by advancing their local records on twicearounds to 8-7-1-0.

The pacing filly Unbeamlievable (Moon Beam-DVC Iblievenangles) won in 2:06.1 to bolster her credentials for Team Shaw (owner/3-year-old Mason, trainer/father Jason, and driver/uncle Chris), perhaps bringing to mind that team’s success with Tropical Terror in this division last year.

Moon Beam’s gelding counterpart Billy’s Falcon (Nuclear Breeze–B T Falcon) also got to that seasonal record line with a 2:05.1 win for Team Hammer (Roger the breeder, Roger the owner, Roger the trainer, and Roger the driver). The win by Billy’s Falcon was hardly an upset, seeing as he had the circuit’s first 2:00 mile of the year, a 1:59.4 at Gratz on July 11 (remember, he’s a 2-year-old).

Hammer was in a tie for the lead for the meet championship in both training and driving: both he and Brady Brown drove four returnees to Victory Lane, while he and Mike Gillock each harnessed three winners.

One other item perhaps worth the reporting might be a 2:05.3 win by the SJ’s Caviar sophomore filly HS Pearl in the first race of the meet, not so much as she came out of nowhere (the win was her fourth in her last five fair starts), but her connections were new to the recent Keystone fair scene: driver named Dave Palone, trainer named Ron Burke, owners named Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi. Rumors are these “new fellows” might do pretty well in the sport if they keep at it, based on their “debuts” (Palone hadn’t had a PA Fair Sire Stakes win in the 23 years of computerized records kept by the USTA; must be busy somewhere else).

Finishing Lines: The PA fair circuit swings right back into action Wednesday and Thursday at Dayton, with some of the top Fair Sire Stakes horses not racing at Washington slated for action at Dayton, where the bell will be rung for the first race at high noon each day.