Pre-entries for the Grade I
Arlington Million, Grade I Beverly D. Stakes and Grade I Secretariat Stakes
closed at midnight Friday with 10 older horses named to the 28th running of the
Arlington Million, 11 fillies and mares available for the $750,000 Beverly D.
Stakes and seven sophomores slated as probable for the $400,000 Secretariat
Stakes.
To be run Aug. 21, the only
three Grade I races contested in Illinois on
annual basis make up Arlington’s
one-day International Festival of Racing. Arlington Million XXVIII gets
additional prestige once again with its “Win and You’re In” provision for the
Grade I Breeders’ Cup Turf, while the 20th renewal of the Beverly D. allows
that same provision for the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf for the
third straight year.
This year’s Breeders’ Cup
World Championships will be held Nov. 5-6 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.,
and will be televised live on ABC and ESPN.
Post positions for all three
International Festival of Racing races will be drawn Tuesday in Arlington Park’s racing office at 9:30 a.m. (CDT).
European invaders for
Arlington Million XXVIII, in alphabetical order, are HRH Princess Haya of
Jordan’s Debussy, an Irish-bred colt that finished fourth in Great Britain’s
Group II Sky Bet York States over the Knavesmire at York on July 24 after the
rider lost his whip; William Bellew’s Summit Surge, an Irish-bred gelding who
captured that same Group II outing by a length and a quarter; and Shadwell
Stable’s Tazeez, a Kentucky-bred but European-campaigned horse who was beaten
only a length and a quarter when third in Great Britain’s Group I Prince of
Wales’s Stakes during the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting in mid-June.
North American-based Million
pre-entries are dominated by the star power of Castleton Lyon’s Gio Ponti,
defending champion from the 2009 Arlington Million, who is now in a position to
become the first horse in history to win back-to-back renewals of the
centerpiece race of the Chicago Thoroughbred racing season.
Robert Courtney Jr.’s Rahystrada,
Jonathan Sheppard’s Just as Well, Shadwell Stable’s Tajaaweed and Robert Evans’
Marsh Side – first, second, third and fourth respectively in the Grade III
Arlington Handicap as the designed local prep for the Arlington Million on July
17 – are also all pre-entered for the main event Aug. 21.
Tom McCarthy’s General
Quarters, winner of Churchill’s Grade I Woodford Reserve Turf Cup on Kentucky
Derby Day May 1 and Keeneland’s Grade I Blue Grass Stakes last year, is also
pre-entered for the Arlington Million, as is Jean and Ted Barlas and Michael
Porcaro’s Quite a Handful, an improving veteran of last year’s Secretariat
Stakes who won his last start by two lengths at Indiana Downs in July after
back-to-back runner-up finishes at Arlington in June.
Normal
0
false
false
false
MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
ELEVEN EVENLY-MATCHED FILLIES AND MARES ON TAP FOR
BEVERLY D.
Eleven fillies and mares,
including two European-based members of the distaff set, have been pre-entered
for the 20th renewal of the Grade I Beverly D. Stakes as the Arlington
Million’s sister race during the International Festival of Racing Aug. 21.
The North American-based group
includes Helen Alexander’s Acoma, winner of Churchill’s Grade III Cardinal
Handicap last fall; Three Chimneys Racing’s Ave, runner-up by a nose in
Woodbine’s Grade II Dance Smartly Stakes July 18; Richard Duchossois’ Éclair de
Lune, second by three-quarters in Arlington’s Grade III Modesty Handicap July
17; Team Valor’s Gypsy’s Warning, winner of Monmouth’s Grade III Eatontown
Handicap May 31; and Nelson McMakin’s Hot Cha Cha, winner of Churchill’s Grade
III Mint Julep Handicap June 5.
Also pre-entered in the
Beverly D. and now based in North America are Augustin Stable’s Rainbow View,
winner of Pimlico’s Grade III Gallorette Handicap May 15; Frank Calabrese’s
Romacaca, winner of Mountaineer’s $75,000 Firecracker July 3; Juddmonte Farms’
Treat Gently, winner of the Grade III Robert G. Dick Memorial Handicap July 17;
and Michael Tabor’s Turning Top, heroine of the Grade III Beverly Hills
Handicap June 26.
The two Europeans pre-entered
for the Beverly D. are Michael Deegan’s Pachattack, winner of Great Britain’s listed EBF Chalice Stakes Aug. 1
at Newbury, and Marquesa de Mortalla’s Biased, third in France’s listed
Prix de la Pepiniere July 25 at Maisons-Laffitte.
SECRETARIAT STAKES PRE-ENTRIES ATTRACT SEVEN
SOPHOMORES
Donegal Racing’s Paddy
O’Prado, considered one of the top turf horses of any age currently in
training, and Estrorace LLC’s Workin for Hops, trying to become the fourth
horse in history to sweep Arlington’s Mid-America Triple, head a group of seven
sophomores pre-entered for the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes as the final leg of
Arlington’s Triple.
The remaining quintet, in
alphabetical order, is Millard Seldin Revocable Trust and the Estate of Hoss
Inman’s Cherokee Lord, a runner-up over Arlington’s grass July 29; Kenneth and
Sarah Ramsey’s Dean’s Kitten, third in Arlington’s Grade II American Derby July
17; Lothenbach Stables’ Mister Marti Gras, second to Workin for Hops in the
American Derby; James Hackman and Glenn Thompson’s Two Notch Road, fourth in
Monmouth’s $145,000 Jersey Derby Aug. 1 and Mark Hawtin’s Wigmore Hall, the
lone European Secretariat invader.