Arlington opens its meet late, modestly

Arlington’s traditional opening day has become the first Friday in May. This year, the fourth Thursday in July will have to do.

One of the last tracks in North America to come back online following the coronavirus pandemic, Arlington launches a 30-day race meet Thursday. There will be just three racing days per week – Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – eight races per day, and no stakes races of any sort. But there will, at least, be racing.

“Nobody’s happier than me to be home,” said Arlington’s perennial leading trainer Larry Rivelli. “For a while, I wasn’t sure.”

COVID-19 hit Illinois hard during April and May, but the 2020 meet was pushed back further because of a contract dispute between Arlington and the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, finally resolved in late June. The ITHA focuses on maximizing overnight purse outlays for local horsemen; Arlington, owned by Churchill Downs Inc., treasures its Arlington Million Day. There’s no Million this year, and while Arlington president Tony Petrillo said earlier this summer the track would host the Million in 2021, how the race’s purse would be funded is to be determined.

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Even with a stakes-free schedule and limited races, Arlington is expected to pay between $120,000 and $130,000 in daily purses. That’s not nothing if you’re a Chicago horseman who had waited months to ship and race.

Arlington races spectator-free for the foreseeable future, a major hit for a track that charges admission and still attracts large crowds for the right summer weekend program. More purse money would be available should Arlington’s network of 10 off-track-betting parlors come back more smoothly online; as of Sunday, only six were open compared to 10 parlors owned by Hawthorne. A report generated by the ITHA running May 29 through July 12 showed Hawthorne’s OTBs had generated about $847,000 for purses, Arlington’s roughly $157,000.

Entries for Thursday and Friday, taken over the weekend, were surprisingly decent. Arlington, with so few days this meet and no stakes, can make greater day-to-day use of its world-class grass course than ever before. The meet starts with a temporary rail set up dividing the wide course in two, creating inner and outer courses and permitting more turf use with less wear on the grass.

Arlington, which opened its stables less than three weeks ago, had 543 horses on the grounds Sunday morning, racing secretary Chris Polzin said.

“Three days a week is going to help us,” Polzin said.

Fairmount Park shippers provided strong support for the first two cards and should continue to show up for Arlington’s larger purses and grass racing.

Rivelli trains a large swath of the Arlington population – about one-sixth of it – and daily cards will revolve around his operation.

“I had a bunch of horses at Gulfstream ready to run for this meet,” Rivelli said. “If anything, they’re over-ready, which sometimes isn’t a good thing.”

Jose Valdivia Jr., Rivelli’s main rider and perennial king of the Arlington jockey colony, is based in California now. Jareth Loveberry is moving his tack from Canterbury and will have Steve Leving, Valdivia’s former agent, handling his business. Rivelli said Loveberry will be his main rider.

So yes, finally, there are horses to ride, races to be run. The sun hasn’t yet set on Arlington.