A magnificent set of four races are scheduled for the 30th Arlington Million meeting at the suburban Chicago racecourse on August 18, and a host of Dubai-related connections and World Cup/Carnival alums are tentatively scheduled to appear. For comprehensive details, visit Arlington’s fabulous microsite HERE.
30th running – $1,000,000 Arlington Million (G1) – 1 1/4 miles, turf
Wigmore Hall, fourth in this race behind Cape Blanco in 2011, is expected back for trainer Michael Bell. The winner of the 2011 Jebel Hatta (G2), third in that year’s Dubai Duty Free (G1), and fourth in this year’s edition, he endured a brutal trip in the Million a year ago. Treasure Beach, who won the Secretariat at this meeting last season, and was fourth in the 2012 Dubai Duty Free (G1), is listed as a potential starter for trainer Aidan O’Brien.
HRH Princess Haya of Jordan has two runners listed as probable for the race, with Colombian and Questioning in the mix, just two of several projected entrants expected to carry her colours in the festival. Sheikh Mohammed bin Obaid Al Maktoum’s Afsare, a Luca Cumani-trainee, is also a Million probable. Ten horses are named as probables from Arlington’s media department as of Monday.
23rd running – $750,000 Beverly D (G1) – 1 1/4 miles, turf
The progressive American-based Marketing Mix heads the list of ten current probable runners for this race, where the gallant mare River Jetez finished third a year ago. HRH Princess Haya’s Joviality is the lone Dubai-connected nominee, a winner of the Windsor Forest Stakes (G2) at the Royal Ascot meeting, and most recently a distant finisher in the Etihad Airways Falmouth Stakes (G1) at Newmarket over a boggy mire.
36th running – $500,000 Secretariat (G1) – 1 3/16 miles, turf
12 horses are named as probables for this well-regarded event. UAE Derby winner Daddy Long Legs (pictured below) looks to give Ballydoyle trainees another win here after Treasure Beach took the spoils a year ago. Dark Stranger, a Lingfield all-weather winner and twice placed in handicap company, is a possible starter for HRH Princess Haya.
1st running – $400,000 American St. Leger (Listed) – 1 11/16 miles, turf
The newest race at the festival brings some greater staying power to the meeting, with the second home in the 2012 Dubai Gold Cup, Joshua Tree (pictured below, inside #5), one of two potential Marco Botti starters in the race.
The other is the third home in the 2012 Dubai Sheema Classic, Jakkalberry. More recently, Joshua Tree was fourth in the Gran Premio de Milano (G1) before a second in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes (G2) on soft ground at Newmarket. Jakkalberry was a distant fifth to Sea Moon in the Hardwicke Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot in his first start since the Sheema Classic third. The second and third-home in the Hardwicke were the 2011 Melbourne Cup exacta of Dunaden and Red Cadeaux, with another American St. Leger possible Aiken fourth for John Gosden. Another Gosden trainee, HRH Princess Haya’s Zuider Zee is another possibility, cutting back in trip from the marathon 22-furlong Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot.