Arlington sees 11.3 percent gross handle increase

The wind blowing from the Chicago racing circuit has been chill for years now, but somehow Arlington flew in the face of it to post considerable handle gains during a 71-day 2018 meet that ended Sept. 22.

Gross handle compared to 2017 (during which Arlington also ran a 71-day meet) increased $15.9 million, up 11.3 percent, to $157,036,147. Average daily handle was $2,211,777 this year, while handle per race rose 7.7 percent to $254,929 and handle per starter was up 4.3 percent to $34,161.

The 2018 Arlington meet that began May 4 included 616 races this year, compared to 596 races in 2017. Average starters per race rose to 7.46 this year from 7.23 last season.

Handle figures were supplied by Chris Rossi, a racing consultant who tracks data and gleaned the information from official race charts. Churchill Downs Inc., which owns Arlington, doesn’t release handle figures, and the Illinois Racing Board as of Oct. 12 still was unable to provide meet-long handle information, though at some point that will be part of the IRB’s public accounting.

The increases came despite a wet summer that permitted Arlington to run only 182 turf races, 70 fewer than in 2017. Turf races averaged 8.71 starters, up more than a starter per race compared to 2017.

Gross handle this year was up 25 percent compared to 2016, when Arlington apparently bottomed out, and was the highest since 2014, when Arlington ran 834 races.

The meet’s leading connections were the same as last year, with Vince Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope LLC notching 44 wins, trainer Larry Rivelli 76 wins, and jockey Jose Valdivia riding 112 winners.

Dirt routers at Hawthorne

Across Chicagoland from Arlington, this would historically be the time of year when Hawthorne hosts the Gold Cup, once an important dirt route race for the handicap set. For lack of purse money, the Gold Cup was put into cold storage this season, but there’s a decent group of two-turn dirt horses entered in the Wednesday feature.

Race 7 on an eight-race program, carded for one mile and 70 yards, is open to second-level allowance horses or $35,000 claimers. It may or may not run through Kentucky shipper Crosswalk, depending on how you view his two-turn potential.

Crosswalk’s seasonal peak came on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill, when he sharply won the card’s opener, a seven-furlong, first-level allowance race. Crosswalk has failed in four races to return to that level, and trainer Neil Howard will try him over a true route of ground for the first time Wednesday.

Crosswalk is 3, but the pick in this tough-to-parse group is twice his age. Six-year-old Pat’s Shoes had a strong meet on the Arlington Polytrack, winning three times and placing once, but he has been nearly as effective on dirt before and should get a good trip pressing Tiz Samurai’s pace.