Though I’ve been mainly covering the stakes races lately,
there are other racing happenings that I would like to share from Chicago!
(The beautiful Arlington Park)
First, we all are aware of the European dominance on turf in
recent years. Well as you know Arlington
has one of the best turf courses in all of the land and it appears that the
Euros are ready to invade Chicago on Arlington Million weekend. I highly suggest you check out this article.
Second, in what must have been one of the best days in Million Preview Day history, Arlington set a record day for handle!! Direct from the press release:
“The
total handle on Arlington Park's 12-race Million Preview Day card on Saturday,
July 14, of $7,616,325, the highest Million Preview Day handle since the event
was launched in 2001. In addition, the
2012 figure was more than 48% higher than $5,141,447 wagered on the 2011
Million Preview Day program of 11 races. The 2012 per-race average handle of $634,694
was nearly 36% higher than the 2011 per-race average of $467,404. “This demonstrates that there is a strong
public interest in seeing the stars perform and wagering on quality racing,”
said Arlington Park General Manager Tony Petrillo. “Because of tremendous
support from owners and trainers who chose to race their horses at Arlington on
Million Preview Day, we were able to put on a great show and racing fans around
the country responded. This makes us even more excited for what is to come the
rest of our season – especially Arlington Million Day, when we'll have stars
from around country and from all over the world.”
(Ioya Bigtime upsets in the Stars and Stripes! Photo by Four Footed Fotos)
Wow. Just wow. I have mentioned on many occasions that I
feel this season’s Arlington meet is one of the best in a very long time. The racing may have gotten off to a bumpy
start, but it has since picked up greatly.
In the jockey colony,
Cisco Torres has been on an absolute
tear so far racking up
55 wins. In fact, I’m not sure how his mounts still
provide any value at all, but they do.
He just seems to find a way to get the horse home first every time. The battle for
top trainer is a lot more
close however as both
Mike Stidham and
Wayne Catalano are tied for the top spot
with 22 wins while
Larry Rivelli is only one behind with 21. It will be a
great competition to watch for
the remainder of the season!
(Leading rider Cisco Torres)
Did anyone catch the victory by
Brown Almighty (Big
Brown-Gone Goodbye by Gone For Real) on Saturday? Wow.
This horse sat in 3
rd for most of the race behind a very slow
pace on the turf only to find some trouble at the top of the stretch, but still zip through with a charge
to win by almost 2 lengths under Cisco Torres guidance. This horse even sits atop the
HRN 2 year old standings at the time of this writing so he must have made quite the impression. I know I was amazed! To watch his debut performance
CLICK HERE!
(Brown Almighty in the paddock for his debut)
The race that I still have in my mind is Saint Leon’s victory over hard charging Chamberlain Bridge, whom probably would have won if
he didn’t miss the break again. To watch
the race again, CLICK HERE. I highly
encourage you to do so!
(Saint Leon holds off Chamberlain Bridge - photo by Four Footed Fotos)
Arlington continues to provide value for their
customers! Through July 8:
- The post time favorites are winning only 29.53% of the
races!
- The average $2 win mutual is $12.56!
- The average $2 pick 3 is $635.73 and the average $2 pick 4
is $5,212.54!
Let’s not be too short sighted however…as we look ahead to
the fall,
Hawthorne released their
fall stakes schedule and they will have over $1.9 million in stakes money to hand
out. Rest assured there will be some
great racing in Cicero as every weekend in October will feature stakes
races! The $500,000
Hawthorne Gold Cup
will kick off opening weekend and serve as a prep for a couple of the Breeders’
Cup races. On the same day, both the
Indian Maid and the Robert F. Carey will be run on the turf for $100,000
each. Later in the month we can expect
to see the $200,000
Hawthorne Derby followed by a more spread-out Illinois-bred
stakes race schedule!! (Gives me more of a reason to “have to” go to Hawthorne
on the weekend)
I’m happy. The racing
in Chicago has improved significantly over the last 12-18 months and I’m happy
to be a part of it!