They came, they saw, they
conquered and now they’re leaving – returning to Ireland’s
Shannon Island
on a Lufthansa equine charter out of Chicago’s
O’Hare International Airport Sunday night.
Grade I Arlington Million XXIX
winner Cape Blanco, owned by Mrs. Fitriani Hay, Derrick Smith, Mrs. John
Magnier and Michael Tabor, as well as Derrick Smith, Mrs. John Magnier and
Michael Tabor’s Treasure Beach, hero of the 35th anniversary edition of Arlington’s
Grade I Secretariat Stakes, were both in good order Sunday morning, according
to Pat Keating, traveling head lad for Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien’s successful
invaders.
“They both ate up everything
last night and have come out of their races very well,” said Keating Sunday
morning when speaking from Arlington
Park’s International
Barn.
WIGMORE HALL, ZACK HALL, RIVER JETEZ SET TO DEPART
MONDAY
Mark Hawtin’s Wigmore Hall,
fourth in Saturday’s Grade I Arlington Million, is set to return to Europe
aboard a KLM equine charter out of O’Hare International Airport bound for Amsterdam
Monday.
“The horse came out of the
race yesterday just fine,” said Gillian Dolman on Sunday morning while visiting
Arlington’s
gift shop for souvenirs from her American stay. “Our horse ran a good
race and we’re very proud of him. He got knocked around some in the early
going or he might have finished second. I think we could have easily been
second but I don’t think we could have beaten the winner. Hopefully,
we’ll get to come back again next year.”
Wigmore Hall finished second
in the 2010 Secretariat Stakes.
Also aboard the European-bound
KLM equine charter will be the French-bred Zack Hall, owned by Mathieu
Offenstadt, Sylvain Fargeon, Patrick Offenstadt and Mikel Delzangles, who
finished ninth in Saturday’s Arlington Million in his first start outside his
native land. The Delzangles trainee went to the track early Sunday
morning for a canter around the Polytrack.
Barbara and Cedrick Amm and
Marsh Shirtliff’s River Jetez, who finished third in Saturday’s $750,000
Beverly D. Stakes as the Arlington Million’s sister race, will also be aboard
the KLM charter and was also doing well Sunday, according to South African
trainer Mike de Kock, who also indicated that the 8-year-old mare would not
have beaten the winner.