“I'm a little OCD,” he said, in explanation of his unusual leisure-time viewing, before turning the spotlight onto a latest obsession, One Timer (Trappe Shot), his leading contender for the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

“It's all I do. I'll watch a race of One Timer. Then I'm watching a breeze. Then I'm watching the video of his last breeze,” he said.

Nor is this kind of behavior confined to just One Timer.

“It's the way I'm made. You don't really have a life, and people are like, 'We're going out tonight to do this, that and the other,' and I'm like, 'Yeah, it's okay.' I'm probably considered a boring person when it comes to that stuff!”

With the air of a seasoned raconteur about him, Rivelli's self-diagnosed “bore” seems a bit of a stretch–a droll quip of self-deprecation. But who are we to argue with the OCD, tempered as it is with a grounding rod of pragmatism.

Or to put it into racing parlance: Rivelli's not one to over-face 'em.

“We pride ourselves on winning, and you know this game,” he said. “It's a humbling sport.”

Over the course of more than 21 years, he's amassed 1,650 wins and counting, along with more than $30 million in the bank. At Arlington Park alone, he clinched nine straight training titles.

But it's fair to say his battalions are mostly of the blue collar, rather than the silver spoon, variety. His graded stakes haul numbers eight, all of them Grade IIIs.

His record at the Breeders' Cup–of his four runners, three finished fourth and one ran fifth–further demonstrates a similar spirit of utilitarianism.

“You think you've got a good one until you line up against 12 other ones that are just as good as you,” he explained. “Got to be realistic–I don't like to do anything where I don't think I've got a shot.”

But with One Timer, Rivelli's expectations are given rare flight.

“I think we're going in here with the best shot so far,” he said. “Breaking through to win one would be great. Highlight of my career, obviously.”

Rivelli's enthusiasm is understandable given the impressive ease with which One Timer has dispatched his rivals in three races to date, showcasing a Boeing engine cruising speed.

On his debut at Arlington in June, he reared in the gates, but quickly scampered to the lead, careening away by more than 12 lengths.

In the Victoria S. at Woodbine his next start, One Timer was again a little tardy leaving the gates, but soon grabbed the race by the scruff of the neck, winning convincingly by 3 3/4 lengths.

Before his last start, the Speakeasy S. at Santa Anita, the Rivelli team schooled him extensively in the gates. And it worked. In the race itself, One Timer was a perfect model, breaking sharply before driven by jockey Eddie “E.T.” Baird into the lead where bit by bit they pulled clear of the rest.

“He's definitely maturing in front of our eyes,” Rivelli said of One Timer, whom he purchased from last year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale for just $21,000.

“Getting broke, he was a little hard to handle, and they suggested I should cut him,” said Rivelli. “That was the best thing that could happen to the horse. I think that's why the horse is as good as he is.”

Not that he was especially difficult.

“Was just a little bit rumbunctious, a little bit high, that's his type,” said Rivelli, who doesn't see One Timer's speed as one dimensional, either.

“I think he's going to be a monster when he goes three-quarters, seven-eighths,” he said. “He doesn't necessarily have to be a turf horse in my eyes–he's a good horse.”

Before then, however, there's the little matter of the Breeders' Cup. In Monday's draw, One Timer plucked the nine position, just to the outside of Wesley Ward's likely favorite, Averly Jane (Midshipman).

“As far as I see it, there's no excuse,” said Rivelli, pointing as a positive how One Timer remained at Santa Anita after his Speakeasy win in early October. “He's acclimated, he's doing great.”

A Breeders' Cup victory would be a fitting culmination for a family of horsemen spanning three generations, with his uncle Jimmy DiVito and grandfather Peter DiVito both trainers of repute.

Indeed, his grandfather enjoyed patronage from such Hollywood golden age luminaries as Betty Grable and big-band leader Harry James. He trained for Lynn “L.C.” Howard, son of Seabiscuit's owner.

His name also brushed up against one of America's more salacious true crimes.

“She was friends with my grandmother, and my grandmother was waiting for her at O'Hare [Chicago's O'Hare International Airport], and she never showed up,” said Rivelli about Helen Brach, heiress to a candy company fortune when she went missing in February 1977.

Brach's disappearance was later tied to a Chicago horse stable owner and his associates, accused of defrauding Brach.

“That was it, nobody ever found her,” said Rivelli. “She had just got into the Thoroughbred business and he [Peter DiVito] had a bunch of real nice horses for her.”

Having spent his youth around his uncle's barn, Rivelli didn't launch immediately into training. At first, it looked as though a career in pro football was on the cards–got a full scholarship to the University of Minnesota. But a few disappointing tryouts left him with limited options.

And so, instead, he sold cars.

“First year out of college, I made a load of money, about $175,000. One of my buddies owned the dealership. It was the perfect timing getting out of school, bought my first house, then eventually turned all of my focus onto training racehorses.”

Did some of those lessons he acquired as a car dealer translate into training?

“You've got to have intangibles,” he said. “And you've got to have good owners. You can be the greatest trainer in the world but if you've got 20-head of horses and the owners are making you run them all out of line, you're never going to win–you'll be judged on that.”

It helps, then, if some of your most loyal patrons are more than just sign-on-the-dotted-line associates, like One Timer's owners Richard Ravin and Patricia's Hope, nom de course of Vincent Foglia.

“These people are my buddies–we live in the same subdivision [of Chicago],” he said, describing them as a “family” that golfs together, eats dinner twice a week together.

“I can't remember, to be honest with you, if him or I or Richard have ever gotten into an argument over anything,” he said. “That's impossible in this game.”

“You're going to make a lot of trainers jealous,” I replied.

“You don't have to print that if you don't want to!”

But now, with the death knell having rung at Arlington Park, that enclave of friendship looks set for a disruption.

“It's a rotten shame,” he said, of the closure. “It's the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I've nine training titles there in a row. It's like home–it's rough. My grandfather's barn was there. My uncle's barn was there. My barn was there.”

As a result, Rivelli expects that he'll cut his string by 30%. And while he'll continue to have a significant presence at Hawthorne, he might be spending much more time away from home than typical, “and that sucks, because I've never had to go anywhere,” he said.

“I'll be at Turfway this winter and Gulfstream. After that, we will come back to Chicago for the summer meet, and then I will go back to Kentucky probably in the fall,” he said.

But that's all for the future. Right now, Rivelli sits poised before arguably the most consequential race of his career. Should One Timer win, don't expect to see him on day two of the Breeders' Cup championship.

“There might be a party Friday night,” he said, further belying that “bore” label. “Might not make the races on the second day. I can guarantee you we won't make it if we win.”

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“I never thought I'd have a horse in the Million, and then when I do, it's not a million [dollars],” the long-time Chicago-based conditioner told TVG's Scott Hazelton following his neck defeat of Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}). “It's nice,” he said, before speaking for many a horse racing fan by saying, “but I wish they'd keep running.”

As it stands, that is not happening. Arlington did not apply for racing dates for 2022 and parent company Churchill Downs is in the process of reviewing bids for the property located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, about 20 miles away.

The money poured in for Domestic Spending, looking to give trainer Chad Brown a fourth straight 'Million' and the gelding was off as the 2-5 chalk. Two Emmys veered a bit to his right at the start, but James Graham righted the ship and the duo made it to the front easily, as Bizzee Channel (English Channel) and Strong Tide (English Channel) gave chase through an opening two furlongs in a dawdling :26.12. Flavien Prat had Domestic Spending handier than is his custom, no surprise given the lack of pace, while Armory (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was ridden back in the field by Ryan Moore and raced without the benefit of cover into the first turn.

Two Emmys expended no energy whatsoever down the Arlington backstretch, getting the half in walking time of :52.43 before upping the tempo somewhat past six furlongs in 1:16.64. Committed for home from there, Two Emmys was asked for his best in upper stretch and had just enough in the tank to hold off the late challenge of the chalk, who finished the race on his incorrect lead while gaining inches late.

“I knew he would go that far, but they let him go a really soft pace and he's a tough horse,” said Robertson, whose most noteworthy runner was Polar Expedition, a five-time graded winner, including the 1993 GII Breeders' Futurity S. and 1994 GII Jim Beam S.

Added the winning rider: “When I didn't see anyone behind me at the quarter pole, I knew they would really have to run to catch me. He's shown he can do it before and he did it today.”

It was the fifth Grade I for the Irishman, who won the Central Bank Ashland S. aboard Karlovy Vary, the dam of GI Beverly D. S. runner-up Mean Mary, back in 2012.

A maiden winner for $20,000 at this venue two summers ago on the synthetic track, Two Emmys won one of his four starts over the winter at the Fair Grounds and closed that segment of his campaign with a runner-up effort to Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) in the GII Muniz Memorial S. in March. Given a three-month freshening, he resumed with a runner-up effort behind Bizzee Channel in a local third-level allowance June 19 and made most of the running in the GIII Arlington S. July 17, surrendering late to drop a neck decision to Bizzee Channel.

Pedigree Notes:

Two Emmys is the 11th top-level winner for the underrated English Channel, whose Illinois-bred The Pizza Man won the 2015 Million. Two Emmys' second dam, a full-sister to GISW Sunshine Forever, is responsible for SW & MGSP Don't Read My Lips (Turkoman), the dam of MGSW Hotstufanthensome (Awesome Again), MSW Tacit Agreement (Unbridled) and Silver Charades (Broad Brush).

Saturday, Arlington
MR. D. S.-GI, $600,000, Arlington, 8-14, 3yo/up, 1 1/4mT, 2:03.34, gd.
1–TWO EMMYS, 126, g, 5, by English Channel
                1st Dam: Miss Emmy, by Buddha
                2nd Dam: Our Dear Sue, by Roberto
                3rd Dam: Outward Sunshine, by Graustark
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST
GRADE I WIN. ($4,500 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-Wolfe Racing LLC
& Hugh H. Robertson; B-Tottenwood Thoroughbreds, Inc.
(KY); T-Hugh H. Robertson; J-James Graham. $352,800.
Lifetime Record: 16-4-7-0, $545,708. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Domestic Spending (GB), 126, g, 4, Kingman (GB)–Urban
Castle, by Street Cry (Ire). (300,000gns Ylg '18 TATOCT).
O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Rabbah Bloodstock Limited (GB);
T-Chad C. Brown. $117,600.
3–Glynn County, 126, c, 4, Kitten's Joy–Quad Tens, by Rock
Hard Ten. ($45,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; $80,000 2yo '19
OBSAPR). O-Three Diamonds Farm; B-Kenneth L. Ramsey &
Sarah K. Ramsey (KY); T-Michael J. Maker. $58,800.
Margins: NK, 2 3/4, HF. Odds: 27.10, 0.40, 38.90.
Also Ran: Space Traveller (GB), Bizzee Channel, Armory (Ire), Zulu Alpha, Strong Tide. Scratched: Another Mystery, Big Dreaming. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Settled in mid-field as Like A Saltshaker (Peace and Justice) crossed and cleared his rivals from gate nine, Point Me By traveled on the bridle beneath Luis Saez and remained within easy striking distance through a half that was negotiated in a modest :50.02. Guided down to the fence for the run around the turn, Point Me By pinched ground to be just behind the leading trio nearing the stretch, was angled out and around pace-pressing Tango Tango Tango and just to the inside of Ginsburned with about an eighth of a mile to travel and kicked home a conclusive winner.

Point Me By was the veteran of just two previous racetrack appearances prior to Saturday's stakes debut, a debut success at 14-1 in a Churchill turf sprint June 20 ahead of a sound fourth-place effort in a first-level Saratoga allowance in which he rallied from the back of the pack to complete the superfecta.

Pedigree Notes:

Point Me By is the 13th stakes winner, fourth graded winner and first Grade I winner for Canadian-based Point of Entry. Bred by one one of the sire's most fervent supporters in Winchester Farm, Point Me By is out of half-sister to Life In Shambles (Broken Vow), a stakes winner and twice placed at Grade III level and perhaps better known as the old workmate of GI Belmont S. winner Tonalist (Tapit); and to the dam of GSP No Mo Lady (Uncle Mo). Winchester Farm has bred several winners by Point of Entry, a handful of which have raced successfully in Japan. That number includes the 4-year-old filly Lotus Land, a listed stakes winner this year who is entered for Sunday's G3 Sekiya Kinen (1600mT) at Niigata. Viva Allegiance's final listed produce is the 2-year-old colt Uno Najd (Macho Uno).

Saturday, Arlington
BRUCE D. S.-GI, $300,000, Arlington, 8-14, 3yo, 1mT, 1:37.70, gd.
1–POINT ME BY, 119, c, 3, by Point of Entry
                1st Dam: Viva Allegiance, by Proud Citizen
                2nd Dam: Life (Fr), by Anabaa
                3rd Dam: Igma, by Grey Dawn II
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I
WIN. ($30,000 Ylg '19 KEEJAN). O-Homewrecker Racing LLC;
B-Winchester Farm (KY); T-Eddie Kenneally; J-Luis Saez.
$174,600. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $238,268. Werk Nick
Rating: C+. Click for eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Tango Tango Tango, 119, c, 3, Tourist–First Consul, by
Deputy Commander. ($35,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Calumet
Farm; B-Frederick Wieting (KY); T-Jack Sisterson. $58,200.
3–Ginsburned, 119, g, 3, Noble Mission (GB)–Court Appeal, by
Candy Ride (Arg). ($110,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $47,000 RNA 2yo
'20 OBSAPR). O-Ashbrook Farm; B-W. S. Farish & Lazy F Ranch
(KY); T-George R. Arnold, II. $29,100.
Margins: 2 3/4, NO, 1 1/4. Odds: 1.70, 1.90, 6.50.
Also Ran: King of Miami, Like a Saltshaker, Therideofalifetime, Mr. Universe, New Year Surprise, Shadizaar.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Mean Mary (Scat Daddy), the narrow second wagering choice, broke through the gate, and, once reloaded, found her way to the front from her inside draw and was allowed to lob along while taking token pressure to her outside from GIII Modesty S. winner Naval Laughter (Midshipman) as Ryan Moore tucked Santa Barbara away neatly from third. Mean Mary continued to control a moderate tempo as Naval Laughter shadowed her from the outside, but Mean Mary began to get away from her company as the field neared the stretch. With Moore riding high in the saddle and with a fistful of horse passing the quarter pole, Santa Barbara was pulled out three deep into the lane traveling supremely well, quickly raced up to Mean Mary and was punched out mostly hands and heels to score comfortably. Lemista (Ire) (Raven's Pass) boxed on gamely to just miss second money while earning valuable Grade I black-type for two-time Beverly D. winner Peter Brant.

Victorious in a single trip to the races, a Curragh maiden last September, Santa Barbara was the 5-2 favorite for the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas May 2, but could do no better than fourth to stablemate Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}). Unable to see out the 12-furlong trip of the G1 Cazoo Oaks when distant fifth June 4, she raced in heavy traffic for most of the opening nine furlongs of the Belmont Oaks and, with time ticking away, was shown daylight four off the inside and whooshed home to best recent GIII Saratoga Oaks winner Con Lima (Commissioner).

Pedigree Notes:

Already valuable as a half-sister to Breeders' Cup winners Order of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}, Mile) and Iridessa (Ire) (Ruler of the World {Ire}, F/M Turf) from the same sire line, Santa Barbara is a maternal granddaughter of Starine, whose most important career victory came in the 2002 Filly & Mare Turf right here at Arlington. Santa Barbara is the last listed produce for Senta's Dream.

Saturday, Arlington
BEVERLY D. S.-GI, $392,000, Arlington, 8-14, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 3/16mT, 1:54.55, gd.
1–SANTA BARBARA (IRE), 117, f, 3, by Camelot (GB)
                1st Dam: Senta's Dream (GB), by Danehill
                2nd Dam: Starine (Fr), by Mendocino
                3rd Dam: Grisonnante (Fr), by Kaldoun (Fr)
'TDN Rising Star' O-Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor,
Derrick Smith, & Westerberg; B-Whisperview Trading Ltd
(IRE); T-Aidan P. O'Brien; J-Ryan L. Moore. $240,000.
Lifetime Record: 6-3-1-0, $731,612. *1/2 to Iridessa (IRE)
(Ruler of The World (IRE)), GISW-USA, G1SW-Eng,
MG1SW-Ire, $1,988,198; 1/2 to Order of Australia (IRE)
(Australia (GB)), Hwt. at 3-Ire- at 7 – 9 1/2 f., GISW-USA,
GSW-Ire, $1,268,170. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Mean Mary, 123, m, 5, by Scat Daddy
                1st Dam: Karlovy Vary (GISW, $448,596), by Dynaformer
                2nd Dam: The Right Pew, by Pulpit
                3rd Dam: Packet, by Polish Navy
O-Alex G. Campbell, Jr.; B-Alex G. Campbell, Jr.
Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-H. Graham Motion. $80,000.
3–Lemista (Ire), 123, f, 4, by Raven's Pass
                1st Dam: Shortmile Lady (Ire), by Arcano (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Jinsiyah, by Housebuster
                3rd Dam: Minifah, by Nureyev
(€16,000 Wlg '17 GOFNOV). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Drumlin
Bloodstock (IRE); T-Chad C. Brown. $40,000.
Margins: 3, NK, 2. Odds: 1.00, 1.10, 5.80.
Also Ran: Joy Epifora (Arg), Naval Laughter. Scratched: Bramble Queen, Oh So Terrible.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Anyone who has seen the framed photograph in the grandstand concourse will always remember the caption; nor, in continuing through one of the most sumptuous public facilities in all sport, will they forget the bricks-and-mortar incarnation of that invincible spirit.

The photo shows the smouldering debris of the Arlington grandstand after the fire of July 31, 1985. Twenty-five days later, the fourth Arlington Million was staged on schedule before 35,000 spectators in temporary bleachers and tents. The “Miracle Million” was won by a horse trained in Yorkshire for Lord Derby, confirming that unprecedented prizemoney was duly awakening horsemen the world over to the possibilities that had meanwhile inspired the inauguration of the Breeders' Cup.

But who, among those attending the bitter rites of Arlington's final international raceday, will still be clinging to that mantra with any real conviction? For there is evidently one inferno that will never be quenched, even by the kind of human fervor, dynamism and imagination that first conceived and then redeemed the Million. And that is the remorseless furnace of corporate avarice, where this cherished jewel of the American Turf faces imminent immolation.

As one of many Europeans first introduced to the American racetrack environment by accompanying turf raiders to Million day–albeit one of few, no doubt, whose lives would ultimately be transformed by this new world–I view Saturday's valediction as a kind of bereavement. With grief, with anger, incredulity and despair. And I can't even be there, to pay my respects at the funeral.

Instead I must console myself in the despondent collation of so many happy memories and somehow reconcile myself to the prospect of this magnificent, bracing city being indelibly cheapened by a monumental lapse into tawdriness. For the fate of Arlington shows what happens when capitalism becomes detached from its vital sources, when the organism starts to consume itself, its own lifeblood absorbed into the unthinking, monstrous viscera of accountancy.

One of my most privileged Arlington memories is a meeting with one of Chicago's definitive capitalists. And he told me something that struck me as very wise.

“We're never going to chase a dollar,” he said. “If you have the best services you can, a quality product, and a competitive price, then we feel the dollar will catch us.”

His name was Richard L. Duchossois, the same man honored today by the final running of a race that can no longer vaunt a seven-figure purse and instead patches up its dignity as the Mister D. S. An apt tribute, undoubtedly, to a remarkable man closing on his 100th birthday: one of the last of the great generation raised in the Depression, their endurance tested and deepened further yet as the vigor and dreams of their prime were diverted, and often fatally consumed, by war.

Mister D. himself shared a vivid recollection of lying on a stretcher in Normandy, one of the dying among the dead. To the overwhelmed medics, these two categories had to be treated as one and the same. They had separated only those who stood some kind of chance. And the 22-year-old Duchossois couldn't argue with their verdict. He was paralyzed from the neck down. After days and nights of combat without respite, sedated, absolved of responsibility, he began to yield to a great weariness. Dimly he heard a shout: “That one over there, you better bring him along.” It was only when he felt the stretcher being raised that he realized who “that one” was.

By a no less tenuous thread of fortune, it turned out that the bullet had not severed his spinal cord. The nerves were only in shock. Lying in a Paris hospital, booked for a passage home, Duchossois could think only of the unfinished battle. If anything, the British pilot in the next bed was a still harder case. He had lost a leg, but between them they got hold of a wheelchair and some crutches. Somehow they clambered through a window, and Duchossois was picked up by some guys from his unit. Though promoted to Major by the time he demobbed, he was technically still AWOL.

Through all the ensuing decades he has embraced through so narrow an aperture in fate, Mister D. never left the front line. From the railcar workshop where it all began, right through making a $2-billion empire, he never lost sight of the importance of personal example and human engagement.

“Providing product, that's mechanical,” he said dismissively. “Customer service, people-to-people, is the most valuable thing we have.”

Sure enough, year after year, anyone tending the European horses at the quarantine barn became accustomed to the appearance every morning of a spry, dapper old man, driving himself over just to check whether any service, however trifling, might have been overlooked.

Now I don't imagine you can be as successful a Chicago businessman as Mister D. without having a good deal of the steel that went into those first freight cars. Nor would I presume the slightest idea whether his wonderful acuity may have been eroded in the nine years since our conversation or, indeed, of his inner sentiments about the ruthless cash-out by the corporation to whom he sold Arlington 20 years ago. After all, as I recall Mister D. himself had a major stake in Churchill Downs Inc.

Be all that as it may, our sport will always have a great debt to Mister D. and it's right to honor him and his family today. (By the way, with his late son Bruce also remembered this time, in the big sophomore prize, we must ask which track and race will now seize the opportunity to present a Secretariat S.?)

For my own part, however, I don't see anything sustainable in chasing the dollars of gaming addicts in their zombie compounds. (Ideally, of course, without the expensive pretext of a race meet: talk about “mechanical” product!) True, the conversion of capitalism's nutrient cells into cancerous ones is a two-way process. All around us, every day, we see consumers idiotically complicit in the erosion of socially vibrant and viable markets, conspiring with a handful of megabrands (which will someday end up transcending all democratic government) in order to get something cheaply and conveniently.

But talking to people who were blessed to be at Saratoga for the meet's spiritual core–the Hall of Fame induction, Whitney weekend, the sale–there's absolutely no question that our sport retains the capacity to impassion a more commercially fertile demographic. And I also believe that our community has sufficient resources, in both finance and flair, somehow to acquire and secure other storied venues vulnerable to the kind of disaster that has overtaken Arlington.

In this instance, to be fair, the people responsible don't feel answerable to anything as nebulous as “horseracing.” What's more, they will doubtless do a very professional job with those tracks that are deemed worth their shareholders' while. But the condemned man knows he will gain no reprieve by gazing imploringly into the hardened, unseeing eyes of the guard.

Must we quit, really? Can we really let a wrecking ball pulverize the phoenix that rose from the flames? One thing is for sure. If we do, then the pain must animate and invigorate the defense of our heritage against further corrosion. Otherwise, to use a phrase popularized by Chicago's greatest interpreter, Saul Bellow, the blaze of 1985 will be as nothing compared to “the moronic inferno” closing around us all.

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Eric Peterson of suburban Chicago's Daily Herald broke the story over the holiday weekend.

Of the four now-known bids submitted to seller Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), only one–submitted by the track's former president, Roy Arnold–calls for the track's grandstand and track to remain in place alongside a new 60-acre entertainment district and 300 units of housing.

Before this past weekend, the only other disclosed bid came from the Chicago Bears football team, which wants to raze the racetrack in favor of a new stadium.

According to the Herald, the two latest proposals are from Chicago-based Glenstar Properties and Schaumburg-based UrbanStreet Group LLC.

Glenstar's pitch is unconventional, the story stated, because it doesn't entail buying the land outright.

“Instead, the company would be track owner Churchill Downs' partner in a plan to sell off individual parcels for a mixed-use development with an 80- to 100-acre open recreational space as a major component of the 326-acre site,” Peterson reported.

“The more traditional way redevelopment happens is for someone to buy the property and assume all the risks,” Peterson wrote. “But under the Glenstar proposal, Churchill Downs would be part of the process and share in the risks to reap a higher reward.”

UrbanStreet representatives could not be reached for comment on the specifics of the firm's Arlington Park pitch. But Peterson wrote that the firm's approach in a redevelopment project of similar scope was to buy the entire site “and act as master developer as a variety of office, residential, retail and entertainment interests materialized.”

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The gaming corporation with six Thoroughbred tracks in its portfolio also announced Feb. 25 that the previously halted reconstruction project at Turfway Park has resumed now that a Kentucky bill to legally redefine historical horse race [HHR] gaming has been signed into law.

But pandemic-delayed flagship property plans for a hotel, HHR facility, and track amenities expansion at Churchill Downs itself all remain on hold.

Bill Carstanjen, CDI's chief executive officer, said that the corporation will “revisit” and “reimagine” whether or not it wants to follow through with that Louisville project at its previously announced price tag of $300 million.

Those items were the Thoroughbred track-specific topics covered in Thursday's conference call. Per usual, the prepared remarks by CDI officials skewed heavily toward finances and gaming-specific initiatives, with a strong emphasis on CDI's desire to achieve corporate profitability.

Carstanjen said that “what we need to do for our company is demonstrate a very quick pathway to profitability. [That means] don't chase [market] share, and don't chase size–chase profitability. So everything we do in this company is built on a short time frame and a conservative time frame on when we think we can demonstrate profitability. And that'll be our model designed to keep us in the game long-term.”

Carstanjen kept his comments brief and in general when discussing Arlington being put up for sale for redevelopment. That announcement was made on Tuesday, but it was a decision that had been feared for several years by the racing community in light of CDI's ownership interest in one competing Chicago-area casino and plans to bid on a second, and potentially more lucrative, casino license in that region.

“We announced this week that we have initiated the sales process for the Arlington Park racetrack land,” Carstanjen said. “We will conduct racing in 2021 at the track while moving forward with the transaction to sell this highly desirable land for other non-horse racing, mixed-use options.

“It is our intention to work constructively with state and local authorities to find a solution to continue Thoroughbred operations in Illinois, and we look forward to further constructive dialogue as we explore alternatives,” Carstanjen said. “I am optimistic that state and local authorities are interested in finding a path forward with us.”

The news on CDI's two Thoroughbred properties in Kentucky came across as a split decision for racetrackers. The greenlighting of the Turfway build signaled welcome news that the torn-down grandstand and clubhouse won't linger in an unfinished state. But Carstanjen's hints at possibly scaling back the Churchill project came across as cryptic, with few specific details divulged.

“We have already restarted the construction process for our Turfway Park racing and [HHR] facility and are targeting a grand opening for the summer of 2022,” Carstanjen said. He added that CDI anticipated spending $145 million to finish the project, which CDI halted back in October when the legal status of HHR in Kentucky was unclear.

The Churchill construction pause is not new. It's been halted since April, just after the onset of the pandemic, when Carstanjen said in another CDI earnings call that the $300-million project would be on hold “until after we have completed” the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby.

On Thursday, Carstanjen gave the first update since October on that paused project, and it contained the new twist that it might not be built to the specifications that were originally outlined when CDI budgeted $300 million for it in October 2019.

“Before suspending activity when the pandemic hit, we had completed all of the underground utilities and a handful of site-prep projects,” Carstanjen said. “We spent approximately $15 million of the $300 million of capital that we had approved for this project. We are finalizing our revised plans that we believe will be just as impactful…. We believe that we can and should do the project more cost-effectively as we reimagine each of the three elements of the overall project–the hotel, and [HHR] facility, and expanded permanent seating and hospitality.”

Carstanjen continued, “There is really a fourth element to consider as well, which is the potential future expansion of Derby City Gaming. This facility has really performed well since opening…”

At a later point, when corporate investors were allowed to ask questions, Carstanjen was reluctant to directly answer to what extent a potential satellite outbuild of the Derby City Gaming HHR facility in Louisville might have on the overall Churchill Downs project.

“Derby City Gaming has just become this juggernaut,” Carstanjen said. “And we have to make sure we maximize that and make it everything that it can be. So watching its performance over the last year has really been, you know, fairly stunning. And we want to make sure that that property is everything in and of itself that it's supposed to be before we rush forward with an idea of what else we should do at the racetrack.”

Another corporate investor wanted to know additional details, like what factors CDI would be paying the most attention to as it reconsiders the Churchill Downs project.

Carstanjen again declined to provide specifics. But he did note that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hotel industry was one issue that CDI would be examining.

“There's not a lot more that we can say on today's call, because we're not ready to say it,” Carstanjen said. “But some of the factors we're looking at really go to the robustness of the [HHR] product and how best to deploy, here in Louisville; what the best hospitality offering is at the racetrack itself [and] how to think about the hotel with some of the disruption that we've seen in the hotel industry across the United States over the last 12 months. Those are all things we're looking at, and we have a really good handle around those things. We're just not ready right now on this call to get into them.”

As for the May 1 Derby, Carstanjen said ticketing plans are coming into focus but remain fluid because of COVID-19.

“We are currently planning to sell our seated areas at approximately 40 to 50% capacity, and may offer some amount of general admissions tickets when we are a little closer to the date,” Carstanjen said. “We may adjust our ticketing plans as we see further improvement in the circumstances surrounding the pandemic.”

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The IRB, which was meeting with three newly appointed commissioners for the first time on Wednesday, probed Arlington president Tony Petrillo about CDI’s intentions for racing in suburban Chicago in 2021 and beyond.

Board members specifically wanted clarification on earnings-call comments made July 30 by Bill Carstanjen, the chief executive officer of CDI, that said the corporation will honor its 2021 race meet contract with the ITHA “if we elect to do so” and that the Arlington property “will have a higher and better purpose for something else at some point.”

But after the IRB received advice from its attorney that statutory provisions covering recapture don’t allow the attachment of such a stipulation to dates orders, board members voted 6-0 to grant Arlington’s schedule with no strings attached.

The IRB also unanimously approved 2021 racing at Hawthorne Racecourse for 50 dates. Since 2016, the two Chicago-area tracks, Arlington and Hawthorne, have presented a unified race dates and dark-day host status template for the IRB’s approval.

Fairmount Park, which is 350 miles south and not considered part of that Chicago circuit, got its requested 53 dates.

Prior to the ITHA’s request for the recapture provision, Petrillo told the IRB that Arlington anticipates “running eight races per day during those 68 days and being able to offer a purse structure that will allow us to attract a sufficient horse population to fill those races, as well as conducting a stakes schedule that is necessary to support a long race meet over five months over the most competitive time of the year.”

John Walsh, Hawthorne’s assistant general manager, said the 10-month Chicago circuit arrangement “is good for the industry. The horsemen will have a place to be, and they’ll have something to look forward to in 2022 as we hopefully finish our casino sometime toward the end of next year.”

But despite the news of apparent accord, ITHA representatives made it clear the horse community didn’t have 100% faith that CDI would follow through on its contracted commitment to 2021 racing.

ITHA executives cited last year’s stunning decision by CDI to intentionally miss a deadline to apply for newly legalized racino licensure that would have bolstered purses at the track, plus an acrimonious eight-month battle with Arlington over recently inked contracts for 2020 and 2021.

“[Arlington saying] that they’re going to run in 2021 after the difficult time with the contract we had this year, that’s purposeful. It’s meaningful. We’re grateful for that,” said ITHA president Michael Campbell. “However, Arlington is the organizational licensee. CDI is not. And CDI will do whatever is in their best interest to fulfill their [corporate] fiduciary responsibility. And that’s a problem for us given [the disconnection] that we are greatly concerned about. We cannot go through another year as horsemen [with] even the possibility that there’s going to be some disruption or the cancellation of the racing season.”

David McCaffrey, the ITHA’s executive director, then made the request for the recapture provision.

“It’s not meant to be antagonistic or provocative in any way. And there really shouldn’t be any resistance, in my judgment, on Arlington’s part if their intention is to truly race,” McCaffrey said. “Because if they race, this would be meaningless. [It] would at least give some surety to the horsemen. Or, if for some reason, the meet doesn’t happen, at least it preserves the $4.5 million in recapture that would be taken out of the purse account.”

IRB chairman Daniel Beiser asked Petrillo to clarify CDI’s intentions for 2021 and beyond. But the Arlington president’s drawn-out reply was vague and laden with corporate-speak.

“Although 2022 will be here before we know it, there is some time needed to sort this out,” Petrillo said, in part. “And I know that these conversations have come up daily within the confines of the strategic team at Churchill Downs. And I know that they are working on some solutions. What they are at this time I don’t think that anybody could comment on publicly on that right now. But we…do feel our responsibility to the industry as well as the community. And we intend to fulfill that in 2021, and beyond that when the opportunity does exist.”

Beiser, after considering the ITHA’s request to use recapture payments as a cudgel for compliance, asked if Petrillo could provide written clarification from CDI regarding the gaming corporation’s intentions for Arlington.

Petrillo replied that the IRB would get that written assurance in the form of a signed dates acceptance letter that licensees are required to submit to the commission after getting dates orders. He bristled at the proposed “unprecedented conditions” over recapture that “might cause a flurry of legal matters to arise.”

Petrillo continued: “I think we’re opening up a can of issues that then also impede upon the agreement that we have with the horsemen’s association. Again, I just want to reiterate that it is our intent to race in 2021. When that acceptance is signed, that’s written in stone. If we do not comply, the IRB has a number of mechanisms to try and enforce that acceptance or penalize Arlington if there’s a failure to fulfill those commitments.”

Beiser again told Petrillo he’d prefer a separate form of written commitment. The IRB then recessed and voted upon the slate of dates after hearing advice from the board’s attorney. It was noted that while the IRB doesn’t have the authority to attach the recapture stipulations to the dates order, it does have the power to set the recapture payment schedule, and board could consider that when it certifies recapture payment amounts in January. But that would be nearly four months before the track even opens for racing.

Next year will see the return of a spring Thoroughbred meet at Hawthorne (Mar. 6-Apr. 25), which had been cancelled this season to allow for racino construction at the property.

Arlington’s dates will span Apr. 30-Sept. 25.

Hawthorne races again in the autumn, Oct. 1-Dec. 26.

Fairmount races Apr. 27-Sept. 6.

The actual race dates were awarded in blocks. The days cited above account for the dark days at the beginnings and ends of meets that were indicated in each track’s application.

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Racing will be conducted Thursdays through Saturdays, with no open stakes races in 2020, including the track’s signature event, the GI Arlington Million. TDN requested purse level specifics from ITHA representatives, but received no response prior to deadline for this story.

By state law, the contract was supposed to have been submitted to the IRB prior to Jan. 1. Acrimonious negotiations delayed the process for months, then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing talks beyond what was supposed to have been a May 1 opening for Arlington.

In the month of June alone, the IRB met four times to vote upon the issue. But each time the agenda item had to be put on hold as the two sides squabbled over details that included how many years the agreement would be for, the daily average purse levels, projections for a 2021 meet, and what might happen in the event of another pandemic or force majeure problem that halts racing.

Monday’s IRB meeting was actually a continuation of one that started last Thursday, got recessed into Friday, and then was delayed again over the weekend as the two sides scrambled to come to terms and to also resolve an editing mistake that resulted in several rounds of changes to the contract being lost.

David McCaffrey, the ITHA’s  executive director, told TDN in a post-meeting email that the contract is a two-year deal covering 2020 and 2021.

“Next year, I guess, after hearing the testimony of the IRB today, is a bit up in the air,” McCaffrey wrote. “There was a presumption of 65 race days next year, but that may or may not happen. Stakes races [in 2021] will only be funded from the purse account if certain amounts of overnight purse money is generated.”

Following the unanimous vote to award the 2020 dates, IRB commissioners, an Arlington executive, and members of the ITHA took turns thanking and lauding each other for persevering to get a deal done.

“We had our bumps–more than bumps,” Arlington president Tony Petrillo acknowledged.

“If that was his definition of bumps, I’d like to know what an explosion was,” McCaffrey said during the meeting. “But all is well that ends well.”

Yet the newfound calm on the Chicago racing circuit lasted only moments before an entirely different controversy erupted.

The next item on the agenda seemed perfunctory: It was a measure to assign dark-date simulcasting host status to Arlington that had occurred as a result of the track’s previous request to suspend the start of the 2020 meet.

But before commissioners could vote on that item, John Walsh, the assistant general manager of Hawthorne Racecourse, was granted time to speak. He told the IRB that in light of Hawthorne agreeing to keep its backstretch open to stable 194 horses that otherwise would have resided at Arlington, Hawthorne wanted either some form of financial compensation or the granting of dark-date simulcast hosting status until Arlington starts running live to make up for incurring that expense.

“We’ve had our backside open for three months while Arlington did not have theirs open, at a cost of $239,000 per month,” Walsh said. “So to start our [Oct. 2] fall meet, we’ve got four days of purse money that we received, and that is not enough to sustain a fall meet.”

He added that purses, based on the money that has accrued so far, could sink to as low as $60,000 daily.

“This is the last chance [for the IRB] to equalize what’s happened because of COVID virus,” Walsh said.

Petrillo took umbrage with Walsh’s request, and over the course of the next hour during testy back-and-forth dialogue among stakeholders, he enumerated reasons why he felt Hawthorne’s request was out of line.

Petrillo cited circumstances beyond Arlington’s control that prevented its own stabling area from opening, noting that Hawthorne gave those horses a home “upon their own free will.” He cited the pandemic-related stabling costs in other states incurred by Arlington’s parent company, Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI), “that will eventually hit our bottom line.” He doubted the veracity of Hawthorne’s financial figures, and threatened that changing host status would invite a legal challenge from CDI. And he suggested that instead of the IRB mandating a solution, the two tracks could sit down and “try to pound out a 2021 race meet agreement” to settle the stabling cost differences because “we’ve always been fair in that process.”

Walsh countered by saying, “I don’t believe that there will be any change in next year’s agreement between Arlington and Hawthorne, because I don’t know that we can have an agreement after their actions this year toward the industry.”

Petrillo said “We don’t need any further distractions for moving forward with racing…. Talking about repayment or reparations for damages due to the COVID-19 virus to Hawthorne is just ludicrous.”

Petrillo continued, “Any adjustments…are just going to cause a purse cut here at Arlington. We’ve already lost $5 million. We’re already going to spend another $450,000 to open up our backstretch because of the COVID-19 pandemic….And that has shown our commitment to racing. In addition, I would bet that if you look at the bottom line of each racetrack at the end of the year, Arlington will lose more money than both meets at Hawthorne combined.”

Walsh said that if the IRB granted even 15 dark-host dates to Hawthorne instead of Arlington, the difference would be about $200,000, which he said meant more to the smaller, family-owned Hawthorne than the corporate-backed Arlington. He suggested another alternative could be for Arlington to make a similar-sized payment directly to Hawthorne as a “thank you” for stabling horses that otherwise might have left the state.

Petrillo said based on Walsh’s math, that means average purses at Arlington would drop by about $7,500 per day.

“Just to all the horsemen out there, this clearly puts our meet in jeopardy,” Petrillo said. “To penalize the horsemen that are waiting at our gates, that, to me, is not in the best interest of anyone.”

Commissioners seemed to sympathize with Hawthorne’s argument, but didn’t know how to address it. They discussed alternate methods of funding, and there were periods of silence on the teleconference when IRB chairman Daniel Beiser asked if any board members wanted to take action on the agenda item.

“I know we don’t have a pile of money that we’re sitting on that we can just throw all at once,” Beiser said. “I don’t think anyone would disagree that they’ve incurred expenses that no one could have foreseen.”

IRB commissioner Marcus Davis moved to assign 15 dates of dark-host status to Hawthorne, but the motion was not seconded.

Beiser then recessed the meeting. When it resumed 38 minutes later, additional testimony was heard. Then the board moved to award the dark-date hosting status to Arlington, as the item originally appeared on the agenda. That vote passed, 5-1.

IRB commissioner Thomas McCauley, who cast the lone dissenting vote, closed the meeting by acknowledging that Hawthorne should be due some sort of future consideration.

“In effect, they took on a burden that would have been Arlington’s in both the direct cost and overhead of keeping the backstretch open, which [was a] huge benefit [to] Illinois horsemen,” McCauley said. “I’m not going to forget the contribution that Hawthorne has made. I urge that my colleagues remember it as well, and that we put our heads together with staff to figure out a way to basically honor what they did for the horsemen and other parties.”

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