Trotter Arch Madness and pacer Golden Receiver won their respective Opens in the featured races on a sloppy Saturday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
Both the Open Trot and the Open Handicap Pace carried a purse of $50,000.
Arch Madness (Balanced Image-Armbro-Archer), an eight-year-old Ontario-sired gelding owned by Marc Goldberg and Willow Pond LLC, was sent to the front by trainer-driver Trond Smedshammer and got away with easy fractions on his way to the Open Trot win. Anders Bluestone made a brief charge at the 3-5 favourite in the stretch, but Arch Madness, who pushed his career earnings up to $3,681,396 with the win, prevailed by three-quarters of a length in 1:53.2 in the slop. Tober finished third.
In the Open Handicap Pace, Golden Receiver (Village Jove-Royal Gold), the pride of the Mark Harder barn who is owned by Richard Taylor, Nina Simmonds, Stephen Springer, and Stable 45, made the lead a few steps into the race despite the outside post and was still there at the end, holding off fast-closing Bettor Sweet to win by a half-length. The seven-year-old gelding, driven to victory by George Napolitano Jr., won for the 13th time in 21 starts this season and paced the mile in 1:50.1. Silent Swing finished third.
(With files from Pocono Downs)