"If he gets there and gets past Peaceful Way, Mister Big - being the richest Canadian-sired standardbred of all time, regardless of gait, will be one of our next goals."

Those words come from Barry Goldstein, co-owner of trotting powerhouse Arch Madness. With a win in Saturday's $730,000 Maple Leaf Trot, Arch Madness will boast $3.3 million in career earnings and surpass the great Peaceful Way ($3.2 million) as the richest Canadian-sired standardbred in harness racing history. Goldstein is hopeful that his seven-year-old gelded son of Balanced Image can first make Canadian trotting history and will then target the $4.1 million bankroll of Hall of Fame pacer Mister Big. The New York-based owner is not overlooking the solid field of trotters standing in his way of these impressive milestones.

"It's going to be a major task to win this race," Goldstein told Trot Radio. "There are just so many top horses in there, so many solid, champion-type horses, thinking that just because 'Arch' is in good form right now this will be an easy task is a silly, silly statement."

It was one year ago that Arch Madness threw in an uncharacteristic clunker in his Maple Leaf Trot elimination, finishing ninth and not qualifying for the final. The cause of the poor performance was a broken splint bone, and Goldstein reports that 'Arch' has fully recovered from that injury.

"That was an issue last year, it was something that needed to be taken care of. We were lucky enough that removing it - and it was significant portion of the bone that needed to be removed, by the way, it wasn't just a little splinter - that there wasn't any soft tissue involvement, that was where we were lucky, and that's really just history now. The splint bone isn't a weight-bearing bone so there's no lasting issues from it."

In addition Borg asking Goldstein about his thoughts on the 2011 Maple Leaf Trot, the pair also discuss the open draw vs. pick-your-post format. Goldstein is solidly behind the traditional open draw format.

"Years ago, it used to be that the eliminations - if needed - went for a much higher purse, say 40 per cent for elims and 60 per cent for the final. And always an open draw. I like the old rules, I don't think there was any problem with them and once they started fooling with them you come up with all sorts of new problems. If you're racing for half a million dollars in the final and the elims go for $25,000, it's not unreasonable for a bettor to assume that every horse in the race isn't going to try to their maximum performance.

"Like it or not, this is a sport based on wagering and it must be transparent, it must be run so the people who are betting know they are getting a fair shake - not feel it, but know it. We shouldn't have any rule that would dissuade them from thinking that."

The full interview with Borg and Goldstein, admittedly a member of the "San Pail Fan Club" himself, is available below.

Episode 212 – Owner Barry Goldstein

Audio Format: MP3 audio

Host: Norm Borg

Please note that the opinions expressed in the featured interview are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect Rideau Carleton Raceway and/or Standardbred Canada.

The Maple Leaf Trot has been carded as the seventh race (9:21 p.m.) on Mohawk's Saturday program.

Click here for a free Saturday program, courtesy of TrackIT.

To view entries for Saturday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Mohawk Racetrack.

(Photo credit: Vicki Wright)