Powerscourt takes Million

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - This time there were no blinking numbers, no glaring inquiry signs, no tense riders on the phone with Arlington stewards. It was just Powerscourt, jockey Kieren Fallon pumping madly, alone at the finish of the .

A year after Powerscourt flopped toward the rail in the stretch run of the Arlington Million, impeding some of the horses he was leaving in his wake and getting disqualified from first to fourth, he made mincemeat of the best field of turf horses assembled this year in the U.S.

Last year, Powerscourt swept to the lead racing wide on the far turn under jockey Jamie Spencer. This time, Fallon made his move along the inside. Held up briefly at the end of the far turn, Powerscourt began his final run two paths off the rail, came three wide between horses in midstretch, and blew away the 2004 U.S. turf champion Kitten's Joy.

At the wire, Powerscourt ($12.40) was three lengths clear, getting 1 1/4 miles in 2:03.38 on yielding turf. Kitten's Joy narrowly held second over Fourty Niner's Son and Better Talk Now, who made a menacing wide move in the stretch, but lacked a final punch. Kitten's Joy, who was guided off the rail on the backstretch and eventually wound up wide on the far turn, made the lead in upper stretch, but was no match for Powerscourt in the final 100 yards.

"Disappointing," said Ken Ramsey, co-owner of Kitten's Joy, the 4-5 favorite. "We're still going to France, though," for the Arc de Triomphe.

Powerscourt, owned by Mrs. John Magnier and trained in Ireland by Aidan O'Brien, had gone winless in 15 months, and his form in just three starts this year appeared subpar. O'Brien, evidently, was playing possum. With blinkers back on, and racing with the anti-bleeding medication Lasix, Powerscourt looked once again like a European horse better suited to American racing.

Whilly, as expected, set sail for the early lead, tracked by Sweet Return, and the pair opened a lead of several lengths through a half-mile in 48.51 seconds on a slow-playing course. Cool Conductor raced in third, with Powerscourt in the middle of the pack. Cool Conductor made the first move, going to the lead at the top of the stretch, but Kitten's Joy quickly pounced, making the front at the three-sixteenths pole. Better Talk Now was making the obvious wide run, but Fallon had snuck into perfect position for his stretch run.

"I wanted to get in right behind the leaders turning for home," Fallon said. "My horse, he did everything the right way today."

And didn't even get in anybody's way.