by James Beviglia

Wilkes Barre, PA — Trotting superstar Arch Madness came through with a hard-fought win as the overwhelming favorite in the featured Open trot on Friday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. The race carried the night’s top purse of $60,000.

Fresh off a successful tour of Scandinavia and a record-setting win in the Titan Cup at Meadowlands, Arch Madness, the 7-year-old gelding and pride of the Trond Smedshammer barn, was made the 1-9 favorite with the inside post in a field of seven. He sat in the middle of the pack as Winning Mister set the early pace, getting away with a relatively unhurried pace through the front stretch.

Driver Tyler Buter decided to speed up the leader by sending Arch Madness first-over. The gelding set his sights on Winning Mister in the stretch, getting up to win in the final strides in 1:52.1. Fast-closing Anders Bluestone came up to finish a neck back in second, with Winning Mister also just a neck back in third.

Owned by Marc Goldberg of Woodmere, NY and Willow Pond LLC of Hewlett, NY, Arch Madness, sired by Balanced Image, now has 8 wins in 9 tries this season. It was his 27th career victory, and his towering lifetime earnings now stand at $2,912,127.