Arlington International Racecourse will not race this year, with track owner Churchill Downs Inc. reaching a purchase agreement last fall with the National Football League's Chicago Bears for the Chicago-area property, but its most important stakes will go on in 2022.
In releasing its spring stakes schedule March 15, Churchill Downs announced it would host a one-day Arlington Million Day program Aug. 13 at the Louisville track in cooperation with Ellis Park, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, and Kentucky horsemen.
The Aug. 13 race date normally would belong to Ellis Park, which runs in the summer after Churchill Downs' spring meet from April 30-July 4.
The races will come over Churchill Downs' renovated turf course, which will be introduced this spring. Its prior course experienced problems during some of its fall meets, usually during periods of cool, damp weather.
Overall, Churchill Downs will host nine stakes races that were previously run at Arlington. Five will come during the spring meet, followed by the four worth $2 million on Arlington Million Day. The Aug. 13 stakes include the $1 million Arlington Million (G1T), the $500,000 Beverly D. (G1T), the $300,000 Secretariat Stakes (G2T); and $200,000 Pucker Up Stakes (G3T).
Last year, Arlington staged those races, most with smaller purses, and two races were renamed. The Arlington Million was run as the Mr. D. for $600,000, while the Secretariat went as the Bruce D. with an equivalent $300,000 purse.
The Mr. D. honored Richard L. Duchossois, who owned Arlington for a number of years before selling the track to CDI in 2000. He died this year at age 100.
The Bruce D. was named after Duchossois' son, Bruce, who died in 2014.
This year's Million and Beverly D. are both at 1 1/8 miles, shorter than their distances at Arlington, a track with a larger turf course. The Arlington Million had been a 1 1/4-mile race, the Beverly D. a 1 3/16-mile contest.
The Arlington Million was the first Thoroughbred race to offer a purse of $1 million. Introduced in 1981 by Joe Joyce, president of Arlington Park at the time, it became a vital race on the stakes calendar, drawing some of the best horses in North America and abroad.
The track famously ran the Arlington Million in 1985 alongside its destroyed grandstand, which had been ravaged by fire. The Arlington grandstand was later rebuilt into one of the top facilities in the country.
This is not the first time the race has gone outside Illinois. In 1988, the race was held at Woodbine in Canada to accommodate Arlington's reconstruction following the 1985 fire.
No Arlington Million was held in 1998 or 1999 during Duchossois' two-year shutdown of Arlington.
Chris Block, president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, said the announcement furthers the disappointment of his members at CDI's decision to walk away from Arlington.
"We're very disappointed that each day it looks for sure that the track is permanently closed," Block said. "The movement of these races to Churchill Downs, I guess, is another sign. But I'm not sure that even if somebody else bought the track, I don't know if the races would stay there anyway. I'm not surprised. It goes along with the end of the track.
"What I want to do now is take a horse down there and win the first Arlington Million at Churchill Downs on Aug. 15," Block added.
Trainer Chad Brown, who won four Arlington Millions with shippers from his New York-based stable, wrote in a text message that "It's great to have those races. However, nothing will ever compare to Arlington's turf course."
Brown, also a six-time Beverly D. winner, said he will have a 24-horse stable of horses at Churchill Downs this spring. He didn't have a string at Churchill Downs during its September and fall meet in 2021 when the track raced strictly on dirt during its turf course reconstruction.
The other Arlington races to be staged at Churchill Downs during the spring meet are the $250,000 Modesty Stakes (G3T); the $200,000 Arlington Stakes (G3T); the $200,000 Chicago Stakes (G3); the $200,000 American Derby; and $175,000 Hanshin presented by JRA Stakes.
The distinctly international turf racing flavor of the Arlington Million meeting will be a bit of a departure for Churchill Downs, whose emphasis has been squarely on the Kentucky Derby while the New York Racing Association, and others, have been building up and promoting their turf programs and attracting significant European competition.
European trainers already have been in contact with the International Racing Bureau in Newmarket, England, which facilitates international race meetings for tracks around the world, IRB's Adrian Beaumont told BloodHorse. The IRB worked with Arlington to fill the starting gate for the Million and its attendant races with international horses.
"We often had almost half the fields," Beaumont said.
Churchill Downs does now have a quarantine barn on its backstretch, its addition designed to ease travel logistics and increase international participation there.
Hawthorne Race Course director of publicity Jim Miller said CDI did not contact Hawthorne, the only remaining Chicago-area track, before appropriating the races. But he said there was "no thought, really, at all" that Hawthorne could take any of them.
"Many of the stakes races run at Arlington Park carry such great significance in the industry," Miller said. "While they may not continue on at Hawthorne, we do hope they will be able to live on no matter what track they are run at. Fortunately, with 130 years of racing history at Hawthorne and a really bright future ahead, we cannot wait to resurrect and expand upon the great stakes program we once had."
The races coming to Churchill by way of Arlington join with other typical Churchill races for a record 53 stakes races totaling $20.37 million that will be staged at Churchill Downs this spring and summer. The track's signature race, the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) is May 7.
The record-breaking $20.37 spring/summer lineup features new races and significant purse boosts for 41 of the 53 stakes events. The track’s previous record was last year’s spring meet, which offered $13.44 million over 40 stakes races.
Purses at Churchill Downs are bolstered by historical horse racing gaming revenue from its Derby City Gaming property in Louisville.
Beyond the new additions from Arlington, Churchill Downs' stakes schedule largely follows the layout of past spring meets, with an emphasis on Derby Week, specifically Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Days. Stephen Foster Day, another major day for the track, is later than usual this year on July 2, preceded by Stephen Foster Preview Day June 4.
The $750,000 Stephen Foster Stakes (G2), which annually attracts some of the nation’s top older horses, is the centerpiece of an action-packed closing weekend. The 1 1/8-mile race anchors an eight-race stakes bonanza that totals $2.33 million July 2 and includes the $350,000 Fleur de Lis Stakes (GI2; $350,000 Wise Dan (G2T); $200,000 American Derby; $200,000 Tepin Stakes; $160,000 Kelly’s Landing Overnight Stakes; $160,000 Anchorage Overnight Stakes; and $160,000 Maxfield Overnight Stakes.
The first condition book of scheduled races features $120,000 maiden races throughout the spring meet. Additionally, there will be a $250 bonus awarded to trainers whose starters finish fourth through last in all non-stakes races.
The Churchill Downs stable area reopens March 22. The first day of training on the track is Friday, March 25.
| Churchill Downs Spring Meet Schedule | ||||||
| Date | Purse | Race | Grade | Conditions | Distance | Surface |
| April 30 | $160,000 | Roxelana Stakes | 4&UP, F&M | 6 F | Dirt | |
| May 3 | $160,000 | Isaac Murphy Marathon | 4&UP | 1 1/2 M | Dirt | |
| May 4 | $200,000 | William Walker Stakes | Listed | 3YO | 5 1/2 F | Turf |
| May 4 | $160,000 | St. Matthews Stakes | 4&UP | 6 F | Dirt | |
| May 5 | $200,000 | Unbridled Sidney Stakes | 3&UP, F&M | 5 1/2 F | Turf | |
| May 5 | $200,000 | Kentucky Juvenile | 2YO | 5 F | Dirt | |
| May 5 | $160,000 | Opening Verse Stakes | Listed | 4&UP | 1 M | Turf |
| May 6 | $1,250,000 | Kentucky Oaks | 1 | 3YO F | 1 1/8 M | Dirt |
| May 6 | $750,000 | La Troienne | 1 | 4&UP, F&M | 1 1/16 M | Dirt |
| May 6 | $500,000 | Alysheba | 2 | 4&UP | 1 1/16 M | Dirt |
| May 6 | $500,000 | Eight Belles | 2 | 3YO F | 7 F | Dirt |
| May 6 | $500,000 | Edgewood | 2 | 3YO F | 1 1/16 M | Turf |
| May 6 | $500,000 | Twin Spires Turf Sprint | 2 | 3&UP | 5 1/2 F | Turf |
| May 6 | $250,000 | Modesty | 3 | 4&UP, F&M | 1 1/8 M | Turf |
| May 7 | $3,000,000 | Kentucky Derby | 1 | 3YO | 1 1/4 M | Dirt |
| May 7 | $1,000,000 | Turf Classic | 1 | 4&UP | 1 1/8 M | Turf |
| May 7 | $750,000 | Churchill Downs | 1 | 4&UP | 7 F | Dirt |
| May 7 | $750,000 | Derby City Distaff | 1 | 4&UP, F&M | 7 F | Dirt |
| May 7 | $500,000 | Churchill Distaff Turf Mile | 2 | 4&UP, F&M | 1 M | Turf |
| May 7 | $500,000 | Pat Day Mile | 2 | 3YO | 1 M | Dirt |
| May 7 | $500,000 | American Turf | 2 | 3YO | 1 1/16 M | Turf |
| May 7 | $160,000 | Knicks Go Stakes | 4&UP | 1 M | Dirt | |
| May 14 | $160,000 | Mamzelle Stakes | Listed | 3YO F | 5 F | Turf |
| May 21 | $200,000 | Louisville Stakes | 3 | 4&up | 1 1/2 M | Turf |
| May 28 | $160,000 | Keertana Stakes | 4&UP, F&M | 1 1/2 M | Turf | |
| May 30 | $200,000 | Winning Colors Stakes | 3 | 4&UP, F&M | 6 F | Dirt |
| June 4 | $200,000 | Regret Stakes | 3 | 3YO F | 1 1/8 M | Turf |
| June 4 | $200,000 | Arlington Stakes | 3 | 4&UP | 1 1/16 M | Turf |
| June 4 | $200,000 | Aristides Stakes | Listed | 4&UP | 6 F | Dirt |
| June 4 | $200,000 | Blame Stakes | Listed | 4&UP | 1 1/8 M | Dirt |
| June 4 | $200,000 | Shawnee Stakes | Listed | 4&UP, F&M | 1 1/16 M | Dirt |
| June 4 | $200,000 | Audubon Stakes | 3YO | 1 1/8 M | Turf | |
| June 5 | $200,000 | Mint Julep Stakes | 3 | 4&UP, F&M | 1 1/16 M | Turf |
| June 11 | $160,000 | Mighty Beau Stakes | Listed | 3&UP | 5 F | Turf |
| June 12 | $225,000 | Matt Winn Stakes | 3 | 3YO | 1 1/16 M | Dirt |
| June 12 | $160,000 | Leslie’s Lady Stakes | 3YO F | 7 F | Dirt | |
| June 18 | $160,000 | Monomoy Girl Stakes | 3YO F | 1 1/16 M | Dirt | |
| June 25 | $200,000 | Chicago Stakes | 3 | 4&UP, F&M | 7 F | Dirt |
| July 2 | $750,000 | Stephen Foster | 2 | 4&up | 1 1/8 M | Dirt |
| July 2 | $350,000 | Fleur de Lis Stakes | 2 | 4&UP, F&M | 1 1/8 M | Dirt |
| July 2 | $350,000 | Wise Dan Stakes | 2 | 4&UP | 1 1/16 M | Turf |
| July 2 | $200,000 | American Derby | Listed | 3YO | 1 1/16 M | Turf |
| July 2 | $200,000 | Tepin Stakes | 3YO F | 1 M | Turf | |
| July 2 | $160,000 | Kelly’s Landing Stakes | Listed | 3&UP | 6 1/2 F | Dirt |
| July 2 | $160,000 | Anchorage Stakes | 4&UP, F&M | 1 M | Turf | |
| July 2 | $160,000 | Maxfield Stakes | 3YO | 7 F | Dirt | |
| July 3 | $175,000 | Hanshin Stakes | Listed | 4&UP | 1 M | Dirt |
| July 4 | $175,000 | Bashford Manor | Listed | 2YO | 6 F | Dirt |
| July 4 | $175,000 | Debutante Stakes | Listed | 2YO F | 6 F | Dirt |
| Aug. 13 | $1,000,000 | Arlington Million | 1 | 3&UP | 1 1/8 M | Turf |
| Aug. 13 | $500,000 | Beverly D. | 1 | 3&UP, F&M | 1 1/8 M | Turf |
| Aug. 13 | $300,000 | Secretariat Stakes | 2 | 3YO | 1 M | Turf |
| Aug. 13 | $200,000 | Pucker Up Stakes | 3 | 3YO F | 1 1/8 M | Turf |
