Trainer Trond Smedshammer thought Arch Madness would be good in last weekend’s $220,000 Arthur J. Cutler Memorial for older trotters at the Meadowlands
. As it turned out, Arch Madness was even better.
Arch Madness and driver Brian Sears took the lead prior to the half-mile point and marched to a 4-1/2 lengths win over favorite Lucky Jim in a stakes-record 1:51 on May 15. Lucky Jim held the previous stakes record, 1:52.1, which he set last year.
“It was enormous,” Smedshammer said about Arch Madness’ mile. “I thought he would be good. He was on his game. He’s probably better right now than he’s ever been.”
Winless in just two starts at age two, Arch Madness burst on the scene with upset wins over Horse of the Year Donato Hanover in the Breeders Crown elims and final at the end of his three-year-old campaign. The following year against older horses, he won the Maple Leaf Trot and was second in the Breeders Crown, Nat Ray, Trotting Classic, Titan Cup and Allerage on his way to earning $842,803.
All signs pointed toward a terrific campaign last season as a five-year-old. Arch Madness earned $582,088, but won just four of 15 races. He finished the season on a positive note, though, with a 1:52.4 victory in the Credit Winner at Vernon Downs.
“You can tell about a horse by how they look and he had a dull color to him; he kind of had a little bit long hair over the winter like he shouldn’t and it took him a long time to shed out in the spring,” Smedshammer said about last year. “We never found anything health-wise to pinpoint something wrong with him. He got good at the end, but it was very frustrating.”
Historically, Arch Madness has gotten better as the campaign progresses. In 2007, he finished no worse than second in his final 12 races and in 2008 he was no worse than second in his last six starts. This year, he was sixth in his first race of the season and third in the next (both in the Su Mac Lad Series). Since then, he was second to Lucky Jim in the Su Mac Lad Series final, beaten by a neck, and second again to Lucky Jim, this time by three-quarters of a length, in the Cutler Prep.
“We’ve tried to beat Lucky Jim a few times; he’s a great horse,” Smedshammer said. “Obviously, Arch Madness wasn’t as good as he is right now. I think the playing field has definitely leveled out a little bit. Anything can happen with horses, but he usually gets better as the year goes on.”
For his career, Arch Madness has won 18 of 54 races and earned $2.4 million for owners Willow Pond (Barry Goldstein) and Marc Goldberg. His maternal line includes the great Armbro Flight, who was a daughter of Helicopter and the mother of 1988 Hambletonian winner Armbro Goal. Helicopter won the 1953 Hambletonian.
“You look at his breeding (Balanced Image-Armbro Archer-SJs Photo) and figure he’s going to be a monster as an aged horse,” Smedshammer said. “As a five-year-old, I thought he would be a killer, and he wasn’t, so it was disappointing. Now it looks like he’s finally going to be that killer I hoped he was going to be.”
Lucky Jim left New Jersey on Monday to head to Sweden for the Elitlopp. Arch Madness will remain in the States.
“We could probably still go if we wanted to,” Smedshammer said. “I’ve done it before. To go over and win that race would be something special, but it takes a lot out of the horses. If you happen to draw a bad post, you’ll have your work cut out for you. I like it at home.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S.
Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.