Arlington International Race Course

In 1981, Arlington Park's president Joe Joyce created the Arlington Million, a mile-and-a-quarter race on turf intended to raise the focus on Chicago racing. Soon after, in 1983, highly-decorated U.S. Army WWII veteran and businessman Richard L Duchossois purchased the track and substantially raised its profile. At the time, European-based racing connections were mostly strangers to American shores. Aside from the successful exploits of American oil company executive Nelson Bunker Hunt and his illustrious France-based trainer Maurice Zilber, European racehorses had cut little ice Stateside since 1969, the year in...

When Larry Rivelli picked up the telephone, he did so from his Del Mar hotel room, watching a race replay of a horse claimed out of his yard. "I'm a little OCD," he said, in explanation of his unusual leisure-time viewing, before turning the spotlight onto a latest obsession, One Timer (Trappe Shot), his leading contender for the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. "It's all I do. I'll watch a race of One Timer. Then I'm watching a breeze. Then I'm watching the video of his last breeze," he...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL--Hugh Robertson has started close to 10,000 horses in a journeyman career, but celebrated his biggest--and likely most bittersweet--victory when Two Emmys (English Channel), a 5-year-old gelding he also owns in partnership, went wire-to-wire to cause a massive upset in Saturday's Mister D. S., ostensibly the final Grade I race to be run at historic Arlington Park. "I never thought I'd have a horse in the Million, and then when I do, it's not a million [dollars]," the long-time Chicago-based conditioner told TVG's Scott Hazelton following his neck...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL--The joint least-experienced of the nine entrants for Saturday's GI Bruce D. S. (formerly Secretariat S.), being contested at a mile for the second time, Homewrecker Racing's Point Me By (Point of Entry) made a decisive move to split rivals a when push came to shove and pulled clear late to score by 2 3/4 lengths over chief market rival and American Derby hero Tango Tango Tango (Tourist). Ginsburned (Noble Mission {GB}) kept on gamely to be third. Settled in mid-field as Like A Saltshaker (Peace and Justice)...

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL--Santa Barbara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who overcame a troubled trip to win the GI Belmont Oaks in her last trip to the races, had no such difficulties this time around, as she was produced in upper stretch and rolled home to post an easy three-length victory in Saturday's GI Beverly D. S. In joining Euro Charline (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) as the only 3-year-olds to best their elders in the 9 1/2-furlong test, Santa Barbara was--remarkably--providing trainer Aidan O'Brien his first win in the race. Mean Mary (Scat Daddy),...

"Quit? Hell, no!" Anyone who has seen the framed photograph in the grandstand concourse will always remember the caption; nor, in continuing through one of the most sumptuous public facilities in all sport, will they forget the bricks-and-mortar incarnation of that invincible spirit. The photo shows the smouldering debris of the Arlington grandstand after the fire of July 31, 1985. Twenty-five days later, the fourth Arlington Million was staged on schedule before 35,000 spectators in temporary bleachers and tents. The "Miracle Million" was won by a horse trained in Yorkshire...

Two additional bidders in the controversial Arlington International Racecourse sale have been revealed, and neither explicitly mentions the continuation of Thoroughbred racing as a component of their proposed development. Eric Peterson of suburban Chicago's Daily Herald broke the story over the holiday weekend. Of the four now-known bids submitted to seller Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), only one--submitted by the track's former president, Roy Arnold--calls for the track's grandstand and track to remain in place alongside a new 60-acre entertainment district and 300 units of housing. Before this past weekend, the...

An earnings conference call with investors Thursday morning underscored that Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), intends to sell Arlington International Racecourse near Chicago for "non-horse racing" purposes. The gaming corporation with six Thoroughbred tracks in its portfolio also announced Feb. 25 that the previously halted reconstruction project at Turfway Park has resumed now that a Kentucky bill to legally redefine historical horse race [HHR] gaming has been signed into law. But pandemic-delayed flagship property plans for a hotel, HHR facility, and track amenities expansion at Churchill Downs itself all remain on...

Citing distrust in Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the gaming corporation that owns Arlington International Racecourse, the leadership of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) on Sept. 16 asked the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) to impose a condition on 2021 race dates that would withhold millions of dollars in purse fund "recapture" money from the track if it did not end up racing its applied-for 68 days next year. The IRB, which was meeting with three newly appointed commissioners for the first time on Wednesday, probed Arlington president Tony Petrillo about...

The long-overdue contract between Arlington International Race Course and the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) was inked just minutes before a 9 a.m. Monday Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting, enabling racing commissioners to finally approve a 30-date summer season at the suburban Chicago track that will run July 23 through Sep. 26. Racing will be conducted Thursdays through Saturdays, with no open stakes races in 2020, including the track's signature event, the GI Arlington Million. TDN requested purse level specifics from ITHA representatives, but received no response prior to deadline...