As DiVito says goodbye to Arlington, Queens Up moves on to Churchill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Few people still active in racing knew Arlington Park longer and more intimately than Jimmy DiVito. The 71-year-old trainer who several years ago began branching away from the now-shuttered track practically grew up there. His late father, Pete, found his way onto the backstretches of Chicago tracks as far back as the 1930s.

DiVito will maintain a foothold at Hawthorne as time presses on, although his best horses have campaigned mostly in Kentucky in recent seasons. However, DiVito couldn’t help but be part of the closing-day scene at Arlington, where the last-ever race was run Saturday at the iconic suburban Chicago track.

“I’ve been here since I was 14 years old,” DiVito said early Monday from Arlington, where this week he has begun the painful process of shutting down his stable there. “It’s been like home to me. Something like this, it’s very sad, just put it that way.”

DiVito, with a string in Barn 39 at Churchill Downs, expected to be back in Louisville for the feature race on the final twilight Thursday card of the year at Churchill, where he’ll saddle Queens Up as a prime contender in a field of 11 2-year-old fillies. The daughter of Classic Empire was moved south after starting her career with two races at Arlington in August, a maiden win followed by a solid runner-up finish in the Arlington-Washington Lassie.

“I think it’s a good spot for Queens Up, at least the way I handicap it,” said DiVito. “She hasn’t missed a beat since her last race and she’s doing great.”

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Queens Up, with Martin Garcia to ride, will break from mid-pack in post 6 in the only allowance of the Thursday program, a six-furlong first-level race with a maximum purse of $127,000. She’s among a core of lukewarm favorites in a well-matched lineup that also includes Crimson Rose, Sol Dorado, Tizplenty, and California Angel as players.

Crimson Rose (post 11, Florent Geroux) is the 5-2 morning-line choice for trainer Brad Cox after earning a 70 Beyer Speed Figure in her lone start, an Aug. 29 maiden triumph at Indiana Grand.

Purses for non-claiming/starter races at Churchill include sizable bonuses restricted to horses eligible to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund. All starters in the feature except Mercury Head and Mystique Saboteur are Kentucky-breds.

First post is 5 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going under the lights at 7:54 as the seventh of eight races. Thursday kicks off the final four-day stretch of a 12-day, dirt-only September meet that runs through Sunday. Keeneland starts its 17-day fall meet Oct. 8.