from harness publicists across North America

Friday’s (March 25) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Harrah’s Chester, Saratoga Casino and Raceway and Cal Expo.

Arch Madness scores in Chester Open

Chester, PA — Marc Goldberg and Willow Pond LLC’s Arch Madness ($7.40) rallied from fourth place in the stretch to win the $35,000 Open Handicap Trot on Friday at Harrah’s Chester.

With trainer Trond Smedshammer in the sulky, Arch Madness sat fourth as 3-10 favorite Winning Mister (Matt Kakaley) cut fractions of :28.1, :57.1 and 1:25.1.

But Arch Madness, still fourth by 3-3/4 lengths at the top of the stretch, closed strongly and posted a three-quarter length triumph over Winning Mister in a time of 1:53.4. Wind Surfer (Eric Goodell) was third.

The victory came in the season’s debut for Arch Madness, a 7-year-old Balanced Image-Armbro Archer gelding. He has now banked $2,427,707 in his career.

Saratoga Casino and Raceway
Facing his toughest task of the young season at Saratoga Casino and Raceway on Friday night, local trotting star Prime Interest once again proved worthy. The 9-year-old Self Possessed gelding was facing a host of challengers coming from out of town on Friday night, including Ray Schnittker’s Flex The Muscle (Muscles Yankee). Flex The Muscle was making his 2011 debut coming off a year in which he earned just shy of $390,000 as a 3-year-old. With two qualifiers as preps, Flex The Muscle appeared ready to roll and on Friday evening, certainly proved that. Pointed to the lead early by Schnittker, Flex The Muscle got to the three-quarters in 1:27 and faced his first threat at that point. Billy Dobson had Prime Interest in a striking spot turning for home and would get the best of Flex The Muscle in the stretch while recording an impressive 1:56.2 score in the $15,500 trotting feature. The win was the third in four tries this year for the defending Horse of the Year at Saratoga and served as the fastest win time for a trotter at the track so far this season, besting his own mark of 1:58 set on opening night (March 4). The victory was one of five on the night for leading driver Billy Dobson who is off to a red hot start to the 2011 racing season at the Spa.

Cal Expo
Other than being off 4-1/2 months, breaking long before the start, and spotting the field 20 lengths, there was really nothing to write home about the trip that Claudius Augustus went — this is, of course, if you lived under a rock. Conditioned trotters, racing for a purse of $4,500 in the Jim Grundy Hall of Fame Remembrance Trot, were featured at Cal Expo over a sloppy track on Friday night, in which Claudius Augustus went a mile that had to be seen to be believed. Starting from post position one in the field of five, driver Lemoyne Svendsen had issues to deal with behind the gate just to the head of the stretch. Not back on stride until a sixteenth of a mile plus to the start and lagging the gate by 20 lengths, a relieved Svendsen got his charge to trot a ton and had the field caught an eighth of a mile past the start into a :31 opening quarter. They remained last at the half-mile station, timed in a slow 1:02.1 by the hat trick seeking Alpine Hawk (Rich Wojcio). Moving first-over to the 9-16ths pole and coming with a rush to the five-eighths pole, the 7-year-old quickly made his way to the neck of Alpine Hawk at the three-quarter marker, timed in 1:32.2. Claudius Augustus took a slight lead to the top of the stretch, then led by three parts of a length with an eighth of a mile to go. Refusing to let Alpine Hawk come back, all while Svendsen hardly urged, the Debbie Budahn owned and Bob Johnson trained trotter won ($5.20) in monster fashion by three-quarters of a length in 2:00.4, thus recording his 23rd career triumph. Alpine Hawk raced as good as he could while finishing in second, and Franks Best (Jim Lackey) finished one length farther back in third.