ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- What, after his stirring win in the Arlington Million, could Hardest Core possibly do for an encore? The rest of the summer and the autumn will tell that tale, though the story of Hardest Core already reached an extremely satisfying denouement Saturday at Arlington. Hardest Core departed the Arlington backstretch about 4:30 Sunday morning, bound by van for trainer Eddie Graham’s base near Unionville, Pa., where he’s expected to arrive early Sunday evening. Hardest Core came out of Saturday’s race the same way he went into, in excellent condition, and with just three starts this season, the 4-year-old figures to have plenty left in the tank for whatever schedule his connections choose during the rest of his campaign. Graham flew back home Saturday night after watching Hardest Core cool out, and the team that stayed behind to take the van ride back to Pennsylvania told him Hardest Core had nearly cleaned his feed tub after the race and was in good shape Sunday morning. :: Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Results, replays, charts, and more “He ate up, so that’s huge, and he’s happy,” said Graham, reached by phone later Sunday morning. Graham said he still felt overwhelmed by the Million win, but he had little time to relax and savor the sweet victory. Graham trains just six horses – two flat horses, four steeplechasers – off his farm, and he was busy exercise-riding his small string Sunday morning. “I was back in the barn at 5 this morning,” he said. Hardest Core was purchased by owner Greg Bentley for $210,000 at Keeneland’s November sale last fall. A son of Hard Spun and the Housebuster mare Lillybuster, he twice failed to meet a reserve at yearling auctions in 2011 but eventually was sold that October for $87,000 to Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs Farm. Adena Springs had just formed a series of investment companies selling shares in racing prospects, and Hardest Core went into one of them, Ghostzapper Racing. Debuting at age 3, he made 8 starts for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin in 2013, winning three times and twice finishing second before he was taken to the November auction. Bentley, who gave the Hardest Core to his son, Andrew, as a birthday gift, is a steeplechase owner, and Hardest Core, who stands nearly 17 hands and is a fairly huge animal, was purchased as a jumping prospect. Shortly after being bought and sent to Graham, he nearly died from complications that arose after being gelded, but Hardest Core quickly bounced back, and the decision – an excellent one, it turned out – was made to continue his career on the flat this year. And for now, the steeplechase career has been placed on indefinite hold. Hardest Core earned an automatic Breeders’ Cup Turf berth as well as travel and entry fees to the race with his Million win, and Graham said Sunday that race was an obvious goal. “One race, then the Breeders’ Cup is what’s in the back of my mind, but the main thing is seeing how he came out of the race and go from there,” he said. Graham, a former steeplechase jockey, has had remarkable success with his limited flat racers the last three years: His record since 2012 stands at 11-1-1 from 19 runners after Hardest Core’s triumph. The Million was Graham’s first in a graded stakes, as it was for jockey Eriluis Vaz, who was riding in only his third graded race. Vaz and Graham have teamed up to go 4 for 4 this year. Magician, the Million favorite and runner-up, will head back to trainer Aidan O’Brien’s base in Ireland. A slow pace Saturday led to a much different trip than Magician got winning the 2013 BC Turf, when he slingshotted to victory rallying late behind fast fractions. Magician briefly raced on the lead before giving way to Side Glance, and he wound up pressing the pace, with jockey Joseph O’Brien getting hard after his mount with more than a quarter-mile left to run. Magician had the lead in the stretch but couldn’t hold off Hardest Core’s challenge. “He raced a bit lazy today for whatever reason,” O’Brien said. Side Glance, a 7-year-old, finished third in the Million for the second year in a row, and was coming off a third-place finish last month in the United Nations Handicap at Monmouth Park. "He's an older horse but he's showing all the enthusiasm of a young horse,” said jockey Jamie Spencer. “He tried very hard in the straight.” Late-running Up With the Birds was hurt by the slow pace and rallied mildly for fourth. Finnegans Wake was fifth, bettering his 2013 Million showing by one spot, while French invader Smoking Sun was sixth with no apparent excuse, and second-choice Real Solution a disappointing last of seven. “I have no real excuse for him, other than he seemed to get quite worked up behind the gate,” said trainer Chad Brown. “I don’t know if he spent his race in the post parade or what, but that’s uncharacteristic for him. We have no immediate plan for him. We’ll just get him home to New York and regroup.” Adelaide could race in Australia Adelaide, the 1 1/2- length winner of the Secretariat Stakes, already has raced in Ireland, France, England, and twice in the United States during his six-start career, and his future could hold further travel. The Coolmore group reportedly sold a half-interest in the Galileo colt to Australian connections after Adelaide’s second-place finish in the Belmont Derby Invitational and before the Secretariat, and Adelaide, after going back to trainer Aidan O’Brien’s yard in Ireland, could make a run at the lucrative Cox Plate in Australia later this year. Adelaide drifted out six or seven paths in the homestretch, but pacesetting Tourist, while running on decently, could not take advantage, settling for second. Tourist had been 3 for 3 on grass, but his best races had come at one mile, and the 1 ¼ miles of the Secretariat might have pushed up against his distance limitations. “I think he ran good for first time going 1 1/4 miles,” said Elliott Walden, president of co-owner and breeder WinStar Farm. “I’m not sure where we’ll go from here, if he’ll go longer or if he’s a miler.” - additional reporting by Marty McGee