Arch Madness is a winner in $35,000 Chester Open
April 8, 2011,by Paul Ramlow, USTA Internet News Manager
Chester, PA — Arch Madness won his second straight race in 2011 when he defeated heavily favored Lucky Jim and four others in the $35,000 Open Handicap Trot on Friday (April 8) at Harrah’s Chester.
Owned by Marc Goldberg and Willow Pond LLC, the 7-year-old Balanced Image gelding crossed the wire in a time of 1:54.3 over a sloppy track with trainer Trond Smedshammer in the sulky. The victory increased his season’s earnings to $35,000 and took his career bankroll to $2,445,207.
Winning Mister and Matt Kakaley went right to the front from post three and cut early fractions of :28.2 and :56.4. Flex The Muscle and Tim Tetrick were second and Four Starz Speed (Yannick Gingras) protected the rail to get away third. Anders Bluestone (Ron Pierce) was fourth, Arch Madness fifth and Lucky Jim (Andy Miller) sixth and last.
Winning Mister was still in command at the 1:25.2 three-quarter pole, with Anders Bluestone the first to make a move. Arch Madness followed that cover with Lucky Jim still sitting last.
As the field headed down the stretch, Arch Madness was full of trot, while Lucky Jim made a break and lost all chance at a win in his season’s debut.
Arch Madness ($5.40) went on past the leaders and hit the wire first in 1:54.3. Winning Mister held on for second, while Anders Bluestone won a tight photo over Flex The Muscle to finish third. Four Starz Speed grabbed the final check while Lucky Jim ended up sixth.
Last year, Arch Madness won the $220,000 Cutler Memorial at the Meadowlands and set the world record for a five-eighths-mile track by winning in 1:51 at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. But he was sidelined after only nine races because of a broken splint bone, which was discovered following his ninth-place finish in the Maple Leaf Trot at Mohawk Racetrack on July 17.
Arch Madness won the 2007 Breeders Crown for 3-year-old male trotters and the 2008 Maple Leaf Trot — both in stakes record clockings.