Road to the 2010 Arlington Million: Vol. 4

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Graham Ross

 (847) 385-7558

Graham.Ross@arlingtonpark.com

 

 

Road To The Million IV:  Wednesday, June 30, 2010   

 

 

 

EUROPEANS STOTSFOLD, STIMULATION AIMED AT ARLINGTON MILLION;

AMERICA’S GENERAL QUARTERS TO PREPARE FOR ARLINGTON HANDICAP

 

            The British are coming – again!  Or at least that’s the plan right now regarding Peter Harris’s British-campaigned Stotsfold, who finished a very creditable third while gaining in the late stages of last season’s Grade I Arlington Million.

 

            “It is safe to assume that Arlington Park can count on the impending return of Stotsfold in this summer’s Arlington Million,” said Alastair Donald, director of the International Racing Bureau, when speaking over the phone from the IRB’s Newmarket headquarters in England Wednesday morning.  “(Trainer) Walter Swinburn has indicated that the horse is doing as well as he was last summer – if not better – and that the Million is his primary target once again.

 

            “The plan for Stotsfold is to bypass Saturday’s (Group I) Coral-Eclipse at Sandown in favor of an upcoming race at York in early July,” Donald said, “and use that as his springboard to the Million.  In his last start, Stotsfold won the (Group III) Brigadier Gerard Stakes (May 27) at Sandown.”

 

            Swinburn, son of top Irish jockey Wally Swinburn and himself a jockey of note earlier in his career, began his training career in November of 2004.  While still active in the saddle, Swinburn finished fourth in the 1994 Arlington Million aboard Maktoum Al Maktoum’s Petit Loup and won the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Turf astride Lord Weinstock’s Pilsudski.

 

            According to Donald, another European-based campaigner now under consideration for Arlington Million XXVIII on Aug. 21 is the Irish-bred Stimulation, owned by Michael Kerr-Dineen and trained by Hugh Morrison. 

 

            “Stimulation was a very good horse as a 3-year-old,” said Donald. “That was when he won the (Group II) Challenge Stakes at Newbury, and was a good third behind (Arlington Million veteran) Pressing in Istanbul (in the Group II International Topkapi Trophy in his start before that.  He was compromised by injury for most of 2009, but now as a 5-year-old has still only made 14 lifetime starts.  In his most recent start Stimulation finished a very good fourth in the Group I Prince of Wales’s Stakes during the Royal Ascot meeting June 16.”

 

-MORE-

Road to the Million IV

June 30, 2010

Page 2

 

            Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, owner-trainer Tom McCarthy updated the status of his Arlington Million hopeful General Quarters Wednesday morning.

 

            “(General Quarters) is doing just fine – couldn’t be better,” said McCarthy, speaking over the phone from Louisville, where his 4-year-old gray son of Sky Mesa won the Grade I Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Kentucky Derby Day May 1.

 

            “Right now, my plan is to put him on the grass down here on July 6 and let him go five-eighths about 10 days before the (Grade III) Arlington Handicap (July 17),” said McCarthy.   “Then I’ll bring him up there to Arlington a few days before that race and blow him out on the Polytrack a day or so before the race.”

 

            The Arlington Handicap, like the Million run at 10 furlongs over Arlington’s world famous turf course, is the designed final local prep for the Million.

 

            Arlington Million XXVIII – centerpiece event of the 2010 Chicago Thoroughbred racing season – will go to the post late in the afternoon on the third Saturday in August, preceded by the 20th renewal of the Grade I Beverly D. for many of the world’s best fillies and mares.  Completing Arlington’s International Festival of Racing on that day will be the 34th running of the Grade I Secretariat Stakes, restricted to 3-year-olds of international turf caliber.  Together, they are the only three Grade I race races offered in Illinois on an annual basis.

 

            Among the significant races slated this weekend in advance of the International Festival of Racing are Great Britain’s Group I Coral-Eclipse, Monmouth’s Grade I United Nations Stakes, Hollywood’s Grade II American Handicap and Churchill’s Grade II Firecracker Handicap in advance of the Million; and Hollywood’s Grade II Royal Heroine Mile and Churchill’s Grade III Locust Grove Handicap in advance of the Beverly D.

 

Arlington Park – the Chicago area’s premier Thoroughbred racetrack located in Arlington Heights, Ill. – will run a 91-day meet in 2010 from Thursday, April 29 through Sunday, Sept. 26. Arlington Park, whose parent company is Churchill Downs Incorporated (Nasdaq: CHDN), also operates 11 off-track, simulcast-wagering facilities – Trackside Arlington Park (Arlington Heights), Trackside Chicago, Trackside Quad City Downs (East Moline), Trackside Waukegan, Shooters Bar & Grill at Don Carter Lanes featuring Trackside Rockford, Fat Sam’s Bar & Grill featuring Trackside OTB in Lockport, Lucky’s featuring Trackside OTB in South Elgin, Nicolino’s featuring Trackside OTB in McHenry, Tad’s Sports Bar & Grill featuring Trackside OTB in South Beloit, Salerno-Pincente Ristorante featuring Trackside OTB in Hodgkins and Sundance Saloon featuring Trackside OTB in Waukegan.  Information on Arlington Park can be found online at www.arlingtonpark.com.

 

-END-

 

 

---

This Churchill Downs Incorporated communication (including any attachments) is intended for the use of the intended recipient(s) only and may contain information that is confidential, privileged or legally protected. Any unauthorized use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by return e-mail message and delete all copies of the original communication. Thank you for your cooperation.