Double millionaire Arch Madness rallied home from the backfield over a sloppy racetrack in the $35,000 Open Trot at Harrah's Chester on Friday to score his second straight victory of the season
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Winning Mister (Matt Kakaley) took control of the field from Post 3 and showed the way past stations of :28.2, :56.4 and 1:25.2 while Arch Madness and trainer-driver Trond Smedshammer followed along in fifth. At the third quarter mark, Arch Madness picked up cover from Anders Bluestone (Ron Pierce) before coming on to score in 1:54.3 with a :28.1 final frame. Winning Mister finished two lengths behind with Anders Bluestone third and pocket-sitter Flex The Muscle (Tim Tetrick) right there in fourth.
Heavy favourite Lucky Jim, the 2009 Dan Patch Award winner for older male trotters, trailed the field and made a break in the stretch in his season debut.
The victory was Arch Madness's 21st of his career and boosted his bankroll to $2,484,026 for owners Marc Goldberg of Woodmere and Willow Pond LLC of Hewlett, New York. The seven-year-old son of Balanced Image-Armbro Archer returned $5.40 to win as the second choice in the field of six.