Lucky Jim Edges Arch Madness In Cutler Prep

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Lucky Jim repelled a late rally by Arch Madness to win the $40,000 prep race for the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial on Friday night at Meadowlands Racetrack

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Lucky Jim and driver Andy Miller took command from In Focus (Daniel Dube) entering the backstretch and opened up to a two-length lead as they passed the half-mile marker in a tepid :57.2. Arch Madness (Brian Sears) reached Lucky Jim's throat at the top of the stretch, but the determined winner edged away to a three-quarter-length tally in 1:53.2. Sent off at 2-5, Lucky Jim paid $2.80 to win the fifth race feature.

"I knew Arch Madness would be coming at us somewhere along the line," Andy Miller said. "I just let Jim dig in and he did. He knew where Arch Madness was when he was coming down the stretch, so he dug in."

The defending Older Trotter of the Year is the heavy favourite heading into the $200,000 Arthur J. Cutler Memorial Final on Saturday, May 15. The Cutler will serve as Lucky Jim's final start before he heads to Sweden to compete in the famed Elitlopp on Sunday, May 30. Lucky Jim has won 21 of 23 starts and $1.2 million since entering trainer Julie Miller's barn in 2009. David and John Prushnok and William Gregg own the five-year-old SJs Photo gelding.

In this week's $32,000 Mares Invitational Pace, Overbid Series Final runner-up Sportsfancy rallied off cover to score in a season's-best 1:50.4 with driver Brian Sears. The six-year-old daughter of Sportsmaster beat out Four Starz Molly (Yannick Gingras), favourite Chancey Lady (Tim Tetrick), and Lr Dancing Dream (Dave Miller) by a half-length.

Sportsfancy returned $16.00 to win as the 7-1 fourth choice. Josh Green trains the winner of three races in 14 starts and over $116,000 this season for the Baron Racing Stable of Horsham, Pennsylvania. The 41-time career winner now sports a bankroll totaling $919,103.

To view Friday's results, click here.

(Meadowlands Racetrack)

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