Arlington Million helps usher in reopening of turf course

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs has been the source of some bizarre racing stories in recent times, starting with the Kentucky Derby disqualifications of 2019 and 2021 and a Derby being run in September 2020 at the height of the pandemic.

Now comes the Grade 1 Arlington Million being run at Churchill, another one-off set for Saturday. There’s an unmistakable – critics might say bitter – irony to the Million, the former longtime showcase at Arlington Park in suburban Chicago, being hosted by the company responsible for shuttering the historic track last year.

A critical layer to this unique tale is the fact the Million and the Beverly D., its Grade 1 sister, will be run over a turf course that has gone unused for nine weeks, ever since a fatal breakdown in a June 10 race became a final straw that led Churchill officials to suspend turf racing indefinitely. Fortunately, conditions are expected to be ideal Saturday, with midweek rains having disappeared and a terrific 11-race card to be run amid sunshine and low-80s temperatures.

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Horsemen expressed wariness about how loose and shallow-rooted the new course had become during its opening six weeks of action, and Churchill management further acted on those concerns by canceling two other graded turf stakes, the Secretariat and Pucker Up, originally scheduled for Saturday.

Moreover, in trying to ensure fresh ground for both Saturday features, the $500,000 Beverly D. (race 5) will be run with a temporary inner rail set at 24 feet, while the Million (race 11) will be run some 3 1/2 hours later on the inside lanes. Because of the configuration of the seven-furlong course, both turf races are being run at 1 1/8 miles, shorter than their traditional distances.

“To me, the course is looking like it did during Derby week,” said trainer Brendan Walsh, who will send out one of the top contenders in Santin in the 40th Million, which has had its purse restored to its original amount matching its name. “Nobody really started complaining about it until maybe a week or so after the Derby, when we started hearing about how horses were losing their footing and other stuff, and it got worse as time went on.

“It’s vastly important that there’s no rain between [Thursday] and Saturday. I think it’ll be fine. It’ll be a very similar track to what we had Derby week.”

That’s good news for Walsh, given how well Santin got over the turf in winning the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic less than two hours before the Derby was run May 7. The 4-year-old Godolphin homebred figures to challenge Smooth Like Strait for favoritism in a field of nine older horses.

“He’s been working great, and I think he’s doing as well as ever,” Walsh said. “If he reproduces his Derby Day race, he should be pretty tough in there.”

Tyler Gaffalione, the dominant rider at Churchill in recent years, will be in from Saratoga for a return ride on Santin, who breaks from post 6.

Smooth Like Strait (post 4, John Velazquez), who has been a stalwart in these major middle-distance turf events for nearly two years, has registered a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure in each of his last eight races in an uncanny display of class and consistency for trainer Michael McCarthy. The 5-year-old horse arrived from his Southern California base in time for a half-mile work here last Saturday and surely will be a pace factor, as always, when looking to snap a six-race losing skein.

One key handicapping variable is how the presence of the speedy longshot Megacity (post 5, Gerardo Corrales) might affect Smooth Like Strait. A ruinous pace scenario could set the table for the likes of the two other favorites, Set Piece (post 1, Florent Geroux) and Sacred Life (post 2, Manny Franco).

Set Piece has a 4-for-5 record over the Churchill turf – but that was over the old course torn out last summer.

“You’d like to think he’ll be just as effective on this one,” said Brad Cox, trainer of the Juddmonte Farms homebred. “Hopefully, this will unfold with plenty of pace.”

Sacred Life, a last-out winner of the Grade 3 Monmouth Stakes, is the lone Million starter for trainer Chad Brown, who has dominated the Million over the last decade with an all-time record four wins (2013, 2017, 2018, 2019).

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Sacred Life, a French-bred ridgling, “seems like a perfect horse for this distance,” Brown said.

“He’s been in and out of form, so we’re trying to get him to run that Monmouth race back,” he said. “He didn’t do well before at Churchill, but that was with the old course. My thinking is this is totally different ground now, so we’ll try him again.”

First post Saturday is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the Beverly D. going at 3:01 and the Million at 6:25. The other nine races, all on dirt, consist of two new $200,000 stakes in the Lady Tak (race 7) and Fort Larned (race 10), along with two allowances and five maiden specials, all with six-figure purses.

Full-day television coverage will be provided during “Saratoga Live” programming on FS1 (12:30-3 and 6-7) and FS2 (3-6).

A two-day wager combining three Saturday stakes from Churchill with three Sunday stakes from Ellis will start with the Beverly D. The Bluegrass Pick 6, a $1-minimum wager with a 15 percent takeout, also includes the Lady Tak and Million.