Arlington

Purses will be on the short-term rise at the tracks in Illinois, thanks to a pair of recent money recovery efforts initiated by the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA). One increase at the current Thoroughbred meet at Hawthorne Race Course that will be effective June 15-July 15 involves an 18% across-the-board purse bump derived from a claw-back of funds related to the closure of Arlington International Racecourse. A separate initiative required passage of a bill in the Illinois Legislature on its final day of the session last month. That action...

The colt had been getting a little fractious in the gate and now he half sat down: too low for Jareth Loveberry to climb out, but not low enough to scramble underneath. "Get me out!" the jockey hollered. He was just trying to lift himself clear when his mount came back up and pinned a calf against the steel. The pain was excruciating. It was only five seconds or so before they got the gate open but that was enough, as they stretched him out, for the agony to be...

A $775,000 purse account dispute between the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) and Arlington International Racecourse, LLC, that has simmered for over half a year got escalated to federal court Wednesday. The ITHA is alleging a purse account underpayment in 2021 from now-defunct Arlington and a breach of contract triggered by Arlington's refusal to hand over the money once it became known the property was scheduled to be sold and that no racing would occur there in 2022. Asked for comment via email late Wednesday afternoon, Arlington president Tony Petrillo...

Illinois racing has its problems. There's no more Arlington Park, there will be only 64 days of racing this year and the circuit will shut down in the middle of the summer. But with the 2022 season about to start Saturday at Hawthorne, officials at that track are predicting that navigating through this year will be challenging but not impossible. "How are we going to do? I can tell you more Wednesday when we draw the first card," said Racing Secretary Al Plever. "But I think were going to be...

Edited Press Release The organization representing owners and trainers at FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing (formerly known as Fairmount Park) is withholding consent for the TwinSpires betting platform to accept wagers from Illinois residents. The board of the Illinois Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association cites the closure of suburban Chicago's industry icon Arlington Park by Churchill Downs Inc., TwinSpires' parent corporation, as a prime motivation for withholding consent. With CDI not owning a functioning racetrack in Illinois in 2022, TwinSpires must under state law have a contract with another duly...

The July 30 deadline for applying for Illinois 2022 race dates came and went with no surprise move that might have buoyed the near-future fate of Arlington International Racecourse. If anything, suburban Chicago's landmark Thoroughbred track inched closer to permanent closure Friday, because Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the gaming corporation that owns the up-for-sale landmark, failed to file even a placeholder application to race next year that could have been transferred to a buyer willing to keep the sport afloat. Nor did CDI ask the Illinois Racing Board for race...

It is as true to say that Americans and Europeans are united by an ocean as divided by one. And while horsemen are often considered insular, their transatlantic engagement--fluctuating but perennial--means that they always have things to learn from one another. In recent times, contrary to European prejudice, it is the Americans who have been more willing to leave their comfort zone. Whereas not even Coolmore have lately been rolling the dice on the dirt at the Breeders' Cup, American raiders have increasingly enriched the pageant of Royal Ascot. And...

I'm writing to offer my thanks for the article you posted recently featuring Dora Delgado. Timely, yes and helpful to learn more about her thinking on diversity, equity and inclusion within our sport. It also hit home for me as my father was one of three black trainers actively campaigning in Chicago during the 1970s - 1990s. Mr. Clifford Scott, Paul Darjean and my father, Clenon Brown. I've enjoyed the sport since age three, when my father started teaching me how to read the DRF, he noted, before I could...

Tired of all the bad news? So were we. So, in our new series, we focus on the positive, asking people from non-horse racing families two questions: how they get hooked, and how they'll hook someone else on horse racing this year. TOM DURKIN What was the experience that made you fall in love with horse racing? I really had no particular interest in horse racing in my early childhood. My dad would go to the track and that was about it, I never really went with him a lot....

"Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland" is a series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September sale who have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages. 'TDN Rising Star' Valid Point (Scat Daddy) isn't exactly following the script his owners envisioned when they bought him as a $140,000 yearling at the 2017 Keeneland September sale. But the improvised rewrite this undefeated colt is orchestrating just might turn out better than the original story line, because the plot thickened considerably last Saturday when Valid Point roared home a length...

Arlington's GI Secretariat S., contested at a mile and a quarter since 1985, has been turned back in distance to a one-mile event this year, and drew a competitive nine-horse field for Saturday's running at the Chicago area oval. True to form, Chad Brown has a pair of imposing runners in Peter Brant's Fog of War (War Front) and e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Mike Ryan's Valid Point (Scat Daddy). Fog of War, who followed up a debut victory with a popular score in the GI Summer S. at Woodbine,...

When stablemates Bricks and Mortar (Giant's Causeway) and Robert Bruce (Chi) (Fast Company {Ire}) first met in the June 8 GI Manhattan S. at Belmont, division-leading Bricks and Mortar got the jump while Robert Bruce was stuck in some midstretch traffic, and kicked away to a 1 1/2-length conquest. Saturday, the two will reconvene at Arlington Park for the 37th running of the GI Arlington Million, where Robert Bruce will be defending his title after taking home last year's Million trophy. Klaravich Stables and Bill Lawrence's Bricks and Mortar, four-for-four...