Top PASS Three-year-olds Win, Tooth Ache Pains Rivals in Fair Record $10,083 Race

CLEARFIELD – Clearfield County Fair harness racing fans saw the leading three-year-old filly and colt trotters in the fair circuit\’s Pennsylvania Sire Stakes series pad their point totals and doublewinner Steve Schoeffel of Evans City move closer to another driving title Wednesday afternoon at the Driving Park.

 

Colt Division front-runner Tooth Ache, driven by Timmy Offutt, put the exclamation point on the fast-paced, seven-race card by breezing to victory with a 2:03.4 time in the richest dash in Clearfield County Fair history.

 

With only six entries, the Ward Fink Memorial Trot carried a purse of $10,083, and Offutt kept Tooth Ache comfortably in front on both trips around the half-mile oval. Michele Albaugh-Young\’s Pinehill Querencia finished 5-1/2 lengths back in second.

 

The $5,042 win was Tooth Ache\’s sixth in his last seven races and increased his lead in the PASS 3YO colt standings to 11 points. The bay colt boosted his earnings over $18,000 for owner Annie S. McDonald of Alexandria, Va., and trainer Joey Offutt of Woodsboro, Md.

 

R George placed fourth for driver Norman Morford and picked up two points to move into second with 25 points.

 

Excellent Caviar maintained her one-point edge (35-34) over SJ\’s Future in the PASS 3YO filly chase as they matched solid wins in the first two divisions of the Dunlap-Swales Memorial Trot.

 

SJ\’s Future was No. 1 for a few minutes with a wire-to-wire win in 2:04.4 for driver Randy Neal to earn the race\’s cooler blanket. The bay filly, unraced as a two-year-old, made it three wins a row and five in eight starts for owner-trainer Roger Hammer of Bedford. SJ\’s Future led by eighth lengths at the top of the stretch and finished five lengths ahead of Winston Lineweaver\’s DNJ\’s Merry Dancer, which passed Schoeffel\’s Unsung Melody on the straightaway.

 

Excellent Caviar answered with a come-from-behind win for driver Robert Rougeaux, catching first-lap leader Andits Fun Tyme coming out of the final turn and leaving Charles Flickinger\’s bay filly eight lengths behind at the wire. Excellent Cavier\’s fourth win of the year gives the bay filly owned by William E. Altmeyer Sr. of Kittanning seven firsts in 27 lifetime starts.

 

The third division of the Dunlap-Swales Memorial Trot was no contest as Schoeffel posted his seventh win of the meet with Blueridge Saprisa, which trotted away from Rougeaux\’s R T Barbwire in the final quarter to win by 20-1/4 lengths in 2:07.2. Co-owned by Schoeffel\’s wife, Kathy, and Stephen Lander of Herminie, Blueridge Saprisa shows two wins this year and eight in 28 lifetime starts.

 

Earlier, Schoeffel scored with veteran campaigner Boomer Berman in an impressive 2:03.4 in the second division of the Kevin A. Beardsley Funeral Home Trot for winners over $6,000. First out of the gate, the 12-year-old bay gelding was challenged until the next-to-last turn by Kimberly Good\’s Keystone Spark. At the wire, Boomer Berman was ahead by 5-1/4 lengths for his 67th win in 181 lifetime starts. The cooler blanket was a bonus.

 

The first division was one of the two closest races of the program Schoeffel\’s Homestead Allegro couldn\’t hold off Coyote Valentine, which won by three-fourths of a length in a blanket finish that included hard-charging Annabelle Lee with Terry Brown in the sulky. Good is owner, trainer and driver for Coyote Valentine, a four-year-old bay mare with five wins in 26 starts after not racing as a two-year-old.

 

The Progress Quaker State 3YO Trot was won by trainer-driver John Green\’s Dancen S J by three-quarters of a length over Chris Offutt\’s Erio Hanover. The bay gelding, which won by a neck at Northfield (Ohio) Park last Wednesday, recorded a lifetime best 2:04.2 in his third consecutive victory. Dancen S J\’s career numbers show eight wins in 15 starts.

 

Schoeffel is a virtual lock for the Charles \”Buster\” DiSalvo Trophy as the meet\’s top driver with his seven wins, especially since he\’ll be in the sulky for six races Thursday. Timmy Offutt stayed in contention with his fourth win in the Wednesday finale but is listed to drive only three times on the final card. Bryce Truitt is third with three wins. 

 

HOOFBEATS – Because of a forecast for mid-afternoon rain, meet officials decided to speed up the racing and, with the cooperation of everybody in the barns, completed the card in less than an hour and a half… Three days into the meet, the Clearfield County Fair already has paid out a record $73,882… Thursday\’s 1 p.m. program features 32 pacers in seven races worth $24,045.