A Penny Earned and Chris Lems seem to be a very strong pairing at Vernon Downs. They scored their third win in the last four times that Lems has driven the gelding on Friday night. A Penny Earned stormed to the lead as the field came off of the first turn and held on the rest of the way to score a victory in the $10,000 Open 1 Trot in 1:54.4.

Jaipur (Fern Paquet Jr.) took the lead through the first quarter-mile of :27.4 and ended up sitting the pocket trip after A Penny Earned moved to the front. A Penny Earned led through the half in :57.2 and three-quarters in 1:26. Jaipur did get flushed out as the field entered the stretch, but was never able to move past A Penny Earned. War Hero (Howard Okusko Jr.) made a first-over bid on the final turn, but his rally stalled in the stretch and he had to settle for third.

The complete order of finish was: A Penny Earned, Jaipur, War Hero, Pop I, My Revenuer, Pollux Blue Chip, Evil Urges, and Mr Web Page.

A Penny Earned (Conway Hall-Penny Dream) is owned by trainer George Ducharme, Alfred Ross, Paul Fontaine and Nicola Oliva.

(With files from Vernon Downs)