Contents of Arlington Up for Online Auction

The first items in a massive online-only auction of the contents of Arlington International Racecourse have been listed for bidding.

The sales process, which is scheduled to take place over the next few months in up to 15 separate “events” grouped by asset type, is beginning with food-service and kitchen items.

The coveted big-ticket racing-related offerings–marker poles, finish lines, signage, artworks, and even starting gates–will be among the last batches of items to be sold.

“We're going to be targeting nostalgia and memorabilia items mid-September,” said Judd Grafe, who runs the Minnesota-based Grafe Auction Company, in a Thursday phone interview.

“I don't have a date for the memorabilia yet. My team is on site. We're actually physically photographing and creating catalogues, and we will update the website weekly with times and dates of upcoming sales,” Grafe said.

Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the gaming corporation that previously shuttered Hollywood Park and Calder Race Course, is in the process of completing a $197-million sale of the 326-acre Arlington property to the Chicago Bears football team. Arlington's final races under the CDI regime were last September.

When CDI issued a proposal request seeking an auctioneer back in February, it listed the likely revenue from the complete sale of the track's contents at approximately $2.5 million.

Although organizing a sale of such magnitude seems like a difficult endeavor from a “Where do you start?” perspective, Grafe's family has been in the auction business for more than 60 years and has liquidated the contents of numerous large facilities, like resort hotels and even a drag-racing auto track. But never a horse track.

“How do you eat a big apple? One bite at a time,” Grafe said. “We are literally eating our first bite and getting everybody introduced to the process.”

Still, the behind-the-scenes prep work is largely the same, regardless of the venue, Grafe said. The initial goal is to clear space by selling large, cumbersome pieces of equipment. Then they work towards memorabilia items, and eventually office equipment.

“I don't want to over-simplify it, but It's a bit like Sesame Street,” Grafe said, referring to how his team organizes assets by class, size and use.

All bidding will take place online.

A catalogued item will enter an online sales ring according to a posted schedule. If that item receives active bidding within 20 seconds, a timer will reset for 20 seconds and keep resetting until there are no active bids on the item. Then the bidding for that item will close, deeming that item sold, and the next consecutive item will enter the ring. Grafe explained there will be a way for bidders to place limits on what they might bid in case they can't remain in front of the computer screen for the duration of the auction.

In-person preview days at Arlington will also be scheduled.

“And an important note, because everybody will hope that they can come to the preview and just wander around the building: That's just not going to be possible. One, it's not safe, and two it's not secure. But people will be able to come in and look at the items that will be sold the next day,” Grafe said.

The question everyone has been asking Grafe is whether or not Arlington's iconic “Against All Odds” bronze sculpture featuring John Henry and The Bart will be among the artwork sold by CDI.

“I don't know. I have yet to be told about the Arlington bronzes. I believe the ownership is deciding whether they should be moved to a different [CDI] location or if they should be offered. As soon as ownership lets us know, we'll create a catalogue and tell the world,” Grafe said.

Grafe admitted that Chicago's once-grand Thoroughbred showcase has a bit of a spooky vibe considering how the building is full of history but now sits empty.

“As a professional who works with large facilities–we've done shopping malls and the Minnesota Vikings stadium when it was rebuilt–I'm relatively familiar with walking through empty buildings. It's always a little eerie,” Grafe said.

Grafe explained how the presence of auctioneers cataloguing a beloved civic entity can sometimes arouse feelings of sadness in the people who once enjoyed that venue in its heyday, and his team tries to respect those public sentiments.

“Part of what we do as auctioneers is a natural function of society, a part of any life cycle, whether it's personal or business,” Grafe said. “With any large property, the community always has a level of history when those properties get transformed into something new.

“So for us, it's cool to respect and memorialize the history and the past at Arlington, and we hope people look for the good in this event. That's what we do as professionals. It's an honor to be here, and an honor to represent the history,” Grafe said.