Since Churchill Downs Inc. closed Arlington Park after the Chicago-area track’s 2021 race meet, the Arlington population, horses and humans, has spread in various directions. Hard core Illinois horse people still inhabit bare bones Hawthorne Race Course, the last Chicago track, but many others, including most of the final Arlington racing office, migrated southeast to Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Racing could use a dose of Saratoga right about now.

Following a turbulent Triple Crown season overshadowed by a high number of equine fatalities, a rocky rollout of the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit’s sanction program, and the never-ending saga between Churchill Downs and Bob Baffert, the opening of Saratoga’s 40-day season Thursday is a welcome event for the industry.

“Saratoga’s always a breath of fresh air for horse racing,” NYRA CEO and president Dave O’Rourke said. “We got a nice opening card, we’re looking to kick it off on a strong foot.”

Glen Hill Farm will have a small stable with trainer Tom Proctor at Del Mar this summer for the first time since 2018.

Owner Craig Bernick said Sunday that the stable plans to have approximately eight runners, many with recent starts at Gulfstream Park. The Del Mar meeting begins July 21 and continues through Sept. 10.

The group will include the fillies and mares Ocean Club, Muted, Wide West, and Paris Peacock.

Saratoga native Cherie DeVaux has won four races each of the past two Saratoga meets and she figures to be more active this summer with her continuously growing stable.

DeVaux, who is primarily based in Kentucky, has 19 stalls this summer at Saratoga. She won two races from just four starters at Belmont Park, including last Friday’s Grade 3 Manila with More Than Looks and a July 1 maiden race with Northern Invader. Both 3-year-olds earned 94 Beyer Speed Figures and could meet in the Grade 2, $500,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes on Aug. 5.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Maidens make up five of the eight races on Thursday’s Woodbine card, beginning with a five-furlong maiden special for 2-year-olds in the opener.

All six entrants in the first are debuting, including Party On, a $50,000 yearling purchase who is the lone filly in the lineup. Trainer Kevin Attard sent her out to breeze a half-mile from the gate in 48.20 seconds on June 10. The daughter of 18 percent 2-year-old first-out sire Twirling Candy went a half in 47.60 on July 1, which was the 13th fastest of 95 works at the distance.

Luis Saez is the only jockey without the last name Ortiz to win a Saratoga riding title in the last eight years. Though he’s been largely absent from New York this year, Saez will be back in Saratoga to try and replicate his 2021 season when the 2023 meet kicks off Thursday.

Victories in the Jim Dandy and Travers Stakes in Saratoga last summer propelled the Steve Asmussen-trained Epicenter to an Eclipse Award as 3-year-old champion male.

In Disarm and Extra Anejo, Asmussen has a pair of 3-year-olds this year he’d like to get to the $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 26, the marquee event of the Saratoga meet that opens Thursday.

Danny Gargan has had limited success with 2-year-olds at Saratoga. Over the last six meetings, he has won with just 3 of 27 juvenile starters.

He is expecting for that to change this summer. Led by Dornoch, a full brother to Kentucky Derby winner Mage, Gargan has more than a dozen 2-year-olds in his care, many of whom will see action this summer at Saratoga.

“I’m in a better position with young horses than I’ve ever been in,” said Gargan, who last year won a maiden race with Champions Dream, who would win the Grade 3 Nashua at Aqueduct.

The Grade 3, $175,000 Schuylerville for 2-year-old fillies is the traditional opening-day feature at Saratoga. It used to be tradition for either D. Wayne Lukas or Todd Pletcher to win it, the pair of Hall of Fame trainers having done so six times each.

However, it’s been a while since either individual has won the race, but both seem to have big chances Thursday when Pletcher saddles Wine On Tap and Lukas sends out Saratoga Secret in a field of 11 2-year-old fillies set to run six furlongs over the main track.

Frank Mirahmadi’s career as a full-time racetrack announcer was still in its infancy when he walked into Saratoga as a fan for the first time in 1997.

“The moment I walked into Saratoga I realized what a special place it was, what an iconic place it was,” Mirahmadi said. “When I walked in there I never thought to myself, ‘Wow, I’d like to be the race-caller here one day.’ I never thought that would even be a tiny possibility, I never even considered that to be something to even strive for, I could never picture it happening.”