CLEARFIELD – Witch’s Magic Brew and KT Tag I’m It didn’t make up the daily double, but they made quite a parlay for owner-trainer Ken Weaver of Home, a village near Marion Center, and catch-driver Ed McNeight Jr. on opening day for the 2010 Clearfield County Fair harness racing meet.
They posted contrasting victories as two of the seven winners on Monday’s card for two-year-olds at the Driving Park.
Witch’s Magic Brew led wire-to-wire in the Foster Kerr Memorial, one of three Pennsylvania Sire Stakes divisions for fillies, while KT Tag I’m It came from behind to claim the Kevin Beardsley Funeral Home cooler blanket in the second of three PASS divisions for freshmen colts and geldings.
Also recording PASS wins were fillies RT Girls Lie Too and Leona and geldings Cadence Hall and Blueridge Dagon.
In the lone Quaker States race, the meet’s opener, Quick Deal scored in 2:10 for second-year driver Bryce Brocklehurst to earn the Moyer Auto Body Shop blanket.
The 20-year-old from New Wilmington settled his own brown gelding into the pocket behind Chris Shaw’s Shannay after Bryce Truitt’s My Brother Pete went off gate and waited until the midway point to make his move. Brocklehurst had Quick Deal flying past Shannay down the backstretch, and the second-time starter, fourth in his only other trip to the post, went on to win by a whopping 27-1/4 lengths.
The first of the PASS filly dashes produced the most exciting finish as RT Girls Lie Too, driven by trainer Robert Rougeaux III for the Brocious Stable of Marion Center, outlasted Randy Neal’s Aucune Hanover by a half-length after a stirring stretch duel. Ameronica, with Roger Hammer in the sulky, joined those them in two hotly-contested trips around the half-mile oval. RT Girls Lie Too posted a 2:09.4 in the Richard and Betty Fink Memorial for his third win to go with a trio of thirds.
Hammer kept Leona on the front end in guiding her to a lifetime mark of 2:11.1 for owner Janet Irvine of Houston, Pa., in the Earl Hallstrom Memorial. The six-length victory over Brian Weaver’s Comfy Magic was the second in six starts for the bay filly.
Witch’s Magic Brew, which won its qualifying race at The Meadows in 2:04.4 in June, then stretched her winning streak on the fair circuit to six with a 2:09 trip that left Hammer’s Sierra Lady four lengths back after rallying from an early break.
“She’s a nice filly,” said McNeight, who handled the reins because Weaver was driving the starting gate. “She’s real handy and easy to drive. She can get to the front, steal a fraction here or there and always have something for home.
“I think she’s getting better where she can go with the Stallion Series, which is a notch below the Sires.”
Neither Weaver nor Trish Adams, who is stable manager and groom for Weaver as well as an owner and trainer, would have wagered much on Witch’s Magic Brew earlier this year, especially after she went off gait and finished fifth in her fair debut at Meadville.
“I wasn’t impressed with her,” Adams stated. “She has a grouchy attitude in the stall, so I thought we’d be Amishing her. I didn’t think she’d ever make a racer.”
Weaver had similar sentiments but did have some hopes as the bay’s trainer.
“She was nothing til we put the trotting hobbles on her,” he explained. “Then, all of a sudden, she quit making breaks, started getting confident and started to train. She’s hardly made a break since, other that the one at Meadville.
“She’s quick off the gate, but if the horse Hammer was driving would not have made a break, he’d a beat us. I think that horse has a little more trot than she does. She leaves so good, I don’t want to give up the front end when she can get out there. She just doesn’t have a whole lot of finish, especially on the front end.”
Witch’s Magic Brew has been finishing pretty strong so far, piling up more than $10,000 in winnings after just six starts.
Cadence Hall, coming off a win at the Dayton Fairgrounds Saturday, made it three consecutive successes for driver William Daugherty Jr. and owner Susan A. Daugherty of Mercer in the A.E. Gus Mellott Memorial. The bay gelding clicked off the fastest final quarter of the afternoon, 30.4 seconds, to lower his lifetime mark nearly two seconds to 2:07.4. Daugherty, who made his first appearance at the Driving Park oval in 1959, had Cadence Hall 5-1/4 lengths in front of Steve Schoeffel’s Chips A Cumin at the finish line.
KT Tag I’m It rebounded to the form he displayed in winning three of his four starts after losing two places to seventh at The Meadows and three places to fourth at Hughesville two weeks ago because of interference and then finishing second to Hammer’s S J Better Days at Dayton Saturday.
The bay gelding got away fourth, and McNeight bided his time before pulling him out as the field passed the grandstand for the first time. KT Tag I’m It overtook Brocklehurst’s Somolli Crown on the turn at the top of the backstretch and wound up with the Ernest L. Peterson Memorial Award for the fastest mile of the day, 2:04.4.
A break by Somolli Crown in the final turn triggered an accident as Brocklehurst failed to pull his bay gelding to the outside in time to allow Wilbur Yoder’s Centre County to pass. Brocklehurst was knocked off his bike but was not injured.
“I didn’t get him out fast enough and the other horse clipped me and dumped me over,” Brocklehurst said.
Brady Brown’s Jolly Roger was 42 lengths back when KT Tag I’m It flashed under the wire to boost his earnings to just under $10,000. His closing half of just over one minute to boost was by far the fastest of the day.
“KT, he’s a really good horse,” McNeight said. “He could go places. He could go, probably, almost as fast as any two-year-old around.
“This is a pretty nice horse he went by. I didn’t know if I could get him. Once he got by, they weren’t coming back and beating him.”
Weaver noted that KT Tag I’m It’s mother, KT Troublein Dixie, had the most wins (22) of any two-year-old in the country in her first year of racing.
His plans are to ship KT Tag I’m It to the Pocono Downs next week for a big stakes race at the pari-mutuel track.
In the day’s finale, Yoder had Blueridge Dagon in the right spot when S J Better Days broke on the second trip down the backside and the brown gelding owned and trained by Michael Gillock of Belle Vernon scored in 2:08 with Hot Hot Broadway, driven by Fred Uber Jr., finishing 6-1/4 lengths behind.
Blueridge Dagon sports one other fair circuit win and also was first in a qualifier with a 2:05.3 trip at The Meadows last week.
First day purses totaled $26,777.10.
Tuesday’s payouts will be $27,769.50 for 54 two-year-old pacers entered in 11 dashes. Post time will be at noon.
Monday’s results, with place, horse’s name, post position in parenthesis and driver’s name:
Moyer Auto Body Quaker States 2-Year-Old Trot (Purse $2,396.60) – 1. Quick Deal (2), B. Brocklehurst; 2. Bona Fide Man (1), E. McNeight Jr.; 3. Shannay (3), C. Shaw; 4. My Brother Pete (4), B. Truitt. Time: 2:10.
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Pennsylvania Sire Stakes 2-Year-Old Filly Trot
Richard and Betty Fink Memorial Division (Purse $4,111.17) – 1. RT Girls Lie Too (1), R. Rougeaux III; 2. Aucune Hanover (2), R. Neal; 3. Ameronica (3), R. Hammer; 4. Ohno U Just Didn’t (6), B. Provost; 5. Juniata County (4), W. Yoder; 6. DVC Howsmyfuture (5), C. Shaw. Time: 2:09.4.
Earl Hallstrom Memorial Division (Purse $4,111.17) –1. Leona (3), R. Hammer; 2. Comfy’s Magic (4), B. Weaver; 3. Cameron County (5), W. Yoder; 4. RT Show Stopper (2), R. Rougeaux III; 5. LJ’s Fortune (1), E. McNeight Jr.; 6. TSM Sweet Reward (6), B. Provost. Time: 2:11.1.
Foster Kerr Memorial Division (Purse $4,111.16) – 1. Witch’s Magic Brew (3), E. McNeight Jr.; 2. Arizona Miss (2), R. Hammer; 3. Howardeena Hanover (1), K. Good; 4. RT Slide Job (6), R. Rougeaux III.; 5. Arneis Lady (5), T. Offutt; 6. Sierra Lady (4), W. Yoder. Time: 2:09.
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Pennsylvania Sire Stakes 2-Year-Old Colt Trot
A. E. Gus Mellott Memorial Division (Purse $4,015.67) – 1. Cadence Hall (1), W. Daugherty Jr.; 2. Chips a Cumin (5), S. Schoeffel; 3. Six Pack Abs (3), E. McNeight Jr.; 4. KC Willemakeit (4), R. Neal; 5. Antipasto Hanover (2), R. Hammer. Time: 2:07.4.
Kevin Beardsley Funeral Home Division (Purse $4,015.67) – 1. KT Tag I’m It (3), E. McNeight Jr.; 2. Jolly Roger (4), B. Brown; 3. Centre County (2), W. Yoder; 4. BR Won Cool Ridge (5), S. Gastelu. Time: 2:04.4. DNF – Somolli Crown (1), B. Brocklehurst.
Auto Mart of Clearfield Division (Purse $4,015.66) – 1. Blueridge Dagon (2), W. Yoder; 2. Hot Hot Broadway (5), F. Uber Jr.; 3. Procol Harem Chip (3), B. Weaver; 4. Greatest Hits (1), B. Truitt; 5. S J Better Days (4), R. Hammer. Time: 2:08.
