Citing a source, ESPN.com is reporting that the Bears are ready to invest $2 billion in private money into a publicly owned domed stadium and park space that would feature year-round community amenities.

“The Chicago Bears are proud to contribute over $2 billion to build a stadium and improve open spaces for all families, fans and the general public to enjoy in the City of Chicago,” Bears team president and CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement. “The future stadium of the Chicago Bears will bring a transformative opportunity to our region — boosting the economy, creating jobs, facilitating mega events and generating millions in tax revenue. We look forward to sharing more information when our plans are finalized.”

According to ESPN.com, the Bears began exploring options for a new stadium beyond Arlington Heights last summer when they announced that those plans were “at risk” as negotiations over property taxes reached a $100 million impasse.

Should the plans to build a stadium in Chicago come to fruition, it is expected that the Bears will put the Arlington property up for sale.

Dave McCaffrey, the executive director of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, was skeptical that the Bears will actually follow through on the plans to build a stadium within the city limits. He believes the announcement may be nothing more than posturing to get a better deal.

“Even though they made that announcement I don't think Arlington is dead when it comes to building a stadium there,” McCaffrey said. “There are all sorts of political games being played. I don't think the situation is as definitive as they made it sound in that announcement. They are trying to get tax breaks and public funding for a stadium, and the announcement made today is often the sort of thing people do when they are trying to get money.”

McCaffrey said he doesn't foresee any scenario where a new buyer would emerge and construct a racetrack on the site. He noted that the current laws in Illinois do not allow for a racino to be built at Arlington.

“The Bears completely destructed Arlington and all its accouterments, the water tower, the barns, the dorm rooms, the vets offices, every single piece of anything that was built is gone. It's just a piece of vacant land. The amount of money it would take to rebuild a racetrack, barns, dorm rooms and all else that goes into a racing site would be a gigantic investment.”

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“Against All Odds” depicts the thrilling photo finish victory of John Henry with jockey William Shoemaker in the irons as they ran down The Bart in the shadow of the wire in the inaugural running of the Arlington Million in 1981, the first Thoroughbred race to boast a purse of $1 million. The statue was originally unveiled in 1989 at Arlington International Racecourse.

“It is a great honor to make this gift to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in memory of the late Richard Duchossois, where it will be prominently displayed and enjoyed by racing fans for many years to come,” said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of CDI. “Much like Mr. Duchossois, 'Against All Odds' represents perseverance. May it serve as an inspiration to horses and humans alike that with courage and determination, what seems impossible can be achieved.”

“We are most grateful to Bill Carstanjen and everyone at Churchill Downs Incorporated for the generous donation of the 'Against All Odds' statue to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame,” said John Hendrickson, Chairman of National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. “This incredible work of art represents so many iconic elements of racing history–the inaugural Arlington Million, Hall of Famers John Henry and Bill Shoemaker, and the legacy of Richard Duchossois, a true Pillar of the Turf. We are honored to accept this wonderful addition to our collection and showcase it prominently on the Museum grounds, where it will have a forever home.”

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Warren told the crowd that an ongoing tax dispute has halted stadium development efforts there, even while demolition continues on the former racetrack, the outlet reported.

At issue is a tax assessment on the racetrack land that would raise the annual property tax from $2.8 million to $16.2 million. Other towns continue to try to lure the Bears to their towns and cities, including Chicago, Naperville and Waukegan, according to Front Office Sports.

“We've had a stalemate and a lack of communication, and it's a little more convoluted at this point in time than I thought it would be,” Front Office Sports quotes Warren as saying. “If we're not communicating, which we haven't been, there's not going to be much progress made.”

Plans have called for a sports entertainment complex, including a domed stadium and other attractions.

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A couple of the top races have been won by a significant new investor, Wathnan Racing. Apparently, the people involved were eager to maintain a low profile, but it's tricky to remain incognito when the meeting's most storied trophy is being presented by the new King of England while Frankie Dettori, that least retiring of retiring jockeys, is cavorting in your colors in the foreground.

Though unable to be present himself, the man behind Wathnan was duly revealed as the Emir of Qatar, whose brother and cousin have already been valued investors on the European Turf for some time.

The British breeders who respectively sold the Emir homebreds to win the G1 Gold Cup and G2 Queen's Vase are both indebted to the priceless heritage of British racing, which keeps it far more competitive than its internationally inadequate prizemoney would otherwise allow. Investment from overseas–whether in deals like these, or at public auction–is often the only thing that can keep a British racing and breeding program in the game.

Over the years, of course, the wider debt of horsemen everywhere to Middle Eastern investment has been incalculable. Primarily this has been animated by personal passion, for the horse. With time, however, the Maktoums also began to explore sport's value to the kind of agendas that come under the umbrella of “soft power.”

Two Phil's | Coady Photography

That's an increasingly important element in the other, far more prominent transfer window of the European sporting summer. This week A.C. Milan supporters were shocked by the abrupt defection of young midfielder Sandro Tonali to Newcastle, a British club recently catapulted into the elite by new Saudi ownership. Tonali, a boyhood Milan fan, is a born leader and nobody envisaged him being anything other than club captain a decade from now. That even he should turn out to have his price, then, will have spooked even supporters of rival clubs, who will see that no player can nowadays be considered safe from poaching by wealthier leagues. Indeed, a massive recruitment surge by Saudi Arabia's own domestic league may yet require the English Premier League, accustomed to devouring the best of the rest, eventually to have a taste of its own medicine.

In our own sport, the Big 'Cap once represented the most glittering of prizes. But nowadays its obvious candidates are more likely to head halfway round the world to contest staggering purses in the desert. While racing obviously represents a trifling branch of the soft power tree, the insouciance with which the Saudis could lay on a prize so much bigger than even the G1 Dubai World Cup means that we cannot be surprised by the recent experiences of golf and now soccer.

Yet whatever prompts the injection of cash, whether soft power or hard profit, everyone needs to remember that the lifeblood of all sport is investment of another kind: emotion.     And if passion is treated as a commodity, you will ultimately invite disaffection. Because the one thing that can't be quantified on a balance sheet is the heart of a fan. That's about heritage, identity, formative experience.

This is just as true of racetracks as it is of soccer clubs. Okay, so you might make more money in the short term, for instance, by cashing out one of the most cherished spectator experiences anywhere on the Turf, at Arlington Park. But if we end up with a bunch of soulless gaming facilities, which happen to maintain ancillary ovals in front of deserted concrete sheds, then in a generation or two we won't have a sport at all.

In a world where everything is for sale, then, a horse like Two Phil's (Hard Spun) stands heroically against the tide. He reminds us that sport often depends, for fan engagement, on things money can't buy: pluck and luck.

Reverting to soccer, a lot of American investors (accustomed to sealed franchises) were perplexed when proposals for a European Super League had to be abandoned overnight after the clubs' own fans furiously rejected the removal of jeopardy. They understood, as the club owners didn't, how vital it is that even the biggest clubs, if performing badly enough, should be vulnerable to relegation; and equally that the little guy, showing sufficient merit, can supplant the underachiever.

Lord Miles | Ryan Thompson

Imagine what the Kentucky Derby would be like if restricted to horses that either cost seven figures, or homebred by six-figure covers. As it was, we could root for a blue-collar hero, whose connections had in effect been evicted from their cherished Chicago circuit by the ruthlessness of the same company that hosted the Derby.

Two Phil's was bred from the only Thoroughbred ever bought by the Sagan family (for $40,000) and was ignored by every expert in Book 1. Yet he absorbed a pace that burned off all those around him, before seeing off all bar a single closer.

Unlike Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), who once changed hands for $17,000 before showing a similarly big heart on the Classic trail a couple of years ago, Two Phil's was not asked to grit out another Triple Crown race. Instead, he resumes his campaign Saturday, eyeing an open sophomore championship, in the GIII Ohio Derby.

It's a hop from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie for many around his ownership crew, who will doubtless have noticed that the GIII Chicago S.–a race, it goes without saying, formerly staged at Arlington–has found its latest sanctuary downriver from Ohio, at Ellis Park, while the Churchill team deal with other issues. Their initial efforts to do so included standing down not just Lord Miles (Curlin), who also resurfaces in the Ohio Derby, but even the champion juvenile.

To that extent, at least, they understand how community engagement is crucial to commercial viability. Because the one transfer window that will never close is the one that allows fans to take their hearts–not to mention their business–elsewhere.

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The work on the exterior portion of the track started after the Arlington Heights Building and Safety Department approved a request from the Chicago Bears for a building permit that allowed the demolition of the grandstand and other structures on the property. In February, the Bears completed its purchase of the 326-acre property from Churchill Downs, Inc. for $197.2 million. The Bears have yet to fully commit to building a new stadium on the property.

Churchill announced its plans to sell the track in February of 2021. Arlington last raced on Sept. 25, 2021.

According to the Daily Herald, the process began at 1 pm local time with a pair of excavators tearing into the southeast corner of the grandstand. About 25 minutes later, the first row of seats in that corner began to collapse. The plan, the Herald reported, is for the teardown to be done piecemeal, with crews beginning work at one end of track and finishing at the other.

It is expected that the grandstand will be fully demolished by the end of the summer and that the grandstand entrances will be gone by the end of June. At some point this fall, the offices, paddock and jockey's quarters will be demolished. The Herald reports that the Bears will pay $3.8 million to have the track demolished.

In a May 4 letter sent by Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren to the superintendents of three area school districts, the Bears official said that the demolition of the buildings would “reduce our operating cost and lower the assessed value of the land so that we can realize a realistic property tax during the predevelopment period.” The Bears are in the midst of negotiations with local schools over the amount of property taxes the football team should pay over the next two years. The Bears have said that high property taxes have put their plans to build a stadium on the Arlington site in jeopardy.

LIVE: Skycam 9 is overhead as the Bears start the next phase of the Arlington Park demolition https://t.co/SuGZtcDMjM pic.twitter.com/PbY1qFQTDR

— WGN Morning News (@WGNMorningNews) June 16, 2023

That Arlington is now in the process of being torn down is the latest chapter in a story that has been nothing but bad news for horse racing. The track opened in 1927 and was the jewel in what was then a robust Chicago racing circuit. Hawthorne is the only track left in the Chicago area.

On July 31, 1985 a fire completely destroyed the Arlington grandstand and clubhouse. Miraculously, under track owner Richard Duchossois, temporary bleachers were constructed and the GI Arlington Million was run that year on Aug. 25 in front of 35,000 fans. In need of a new grandstand, Duchossois spared no expense and built a new track from the ground up. The new Arlington opened on June 28, 1989 and was widely hailed as a marvel, one of the nicest tracks in the world. In 2002, Arlington hosted the Breeders' Cup.

Arlington appeared to have new life after casinos were legalized at Illinois racetracks. But, in a move that stunned many within the industry, Churchill Downs did not take steps to secure a casino license. It has been suggested that Churchill did not want to open a casino at Arlington because it would compete with a casino the company owns in nearby Des Plaines, Illinois.

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And it's not just that racing has gotten off to a slow, reversible start this year when it comes to wagering. Whatever is going on, it started in October. Handle was up 2.68% in September and up 1.78% through the third quarter of 2022. Then the numbers took off in another direction and they haven't stopped falling since. Handle was off 4.93% in October, 4.47% in November and 7.52% in December.

Taking a look at the usual factors that affect handle doesn't yield any obvious answers. The average field size so far this year has been 7.66 horses per race, almost identical to the 2022 number, which was 7.67. The total number of races run has actually gone up, from 4,345 to 4,508. But the average amount wagered per racing day is off 8.35%.

This is a mystery not easily solved, but the best guess is that it has something to do with the amount being bet by the Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) players who received huge rebates from betting outlets like Elite Turf Club, which caters to the biggest bettors in the world. Had something happened to impact the amount they wager that would explain the recent declines?

Maury Wolff, who was a professional horseplayer before retiring and studies betting trends, speculated that some tracks may have raised the host fees they charge Elite and other ADWs. The signal fee is the percentage of every dollar of handle that an ADW or simulcast outlet must pay the host track for the right to wager on that track's races. If host fees go up, the rebates the ADW can offer its players will likely have to drop. A smaller rebate would lead to a CAW player betting less. Information on how much is bet at places like Elite and how much they pay in host fees is a carefully guarded secret.

“There is a possible explanation, but you'll never get to the bottom of it,” Wolff said. “What are racetracks doing when it comes to signal fees? An unreal amount of the total amount bet is driven by Elite and if there have been changes to signal fees, that would reduce handle at Elite. Have signal fees gone up to the shops, and when you are talking about the shops you are talking about Elite? I would be very suspicious of that. They are so much the driver now. Anything that affects them is going to be an earthquake to the business. That strikes me as a possibility.”

But Wolff admitted that his theory amounts to only an educated guess.

“But these are suspicions and suspicions are not facts,” he said.

What's the answer? We're not sure. Neither were a handful of other experts I consulted. But this is something to keep an eye on. One of the good news stories in racing over the last few years is that handle has more than held its own and done so despite the advent of legalized sports betting outside of Nevada. Handle was up by 11.8% in 2021 and, despite the decline over the last three months, down less than 1% in 2022. It looks like that's not going to be the case in 2023, which is off to an inauspicious start.

Why You Should Bet on Hawthorne

It's not easy being Hawthorne Race Course. Though a casino is on its way, as of now, they get no additional funding from slots, etc., and offer purses that are far lower than those found at the top-tier tracks. Because they are obligated to run a harness meet, Hawthorne can offer only a 68-day Thoroughbred meet that ends Sept. 3. Illinois racing misses Arlington Park.

But you can't say that Hawthorne isn't trying. Hoping to attract more business at the current meet, which began Mar. 5, the takeout on win, place and show bets has been slashed to 12%. When it comes to straight wagers, there's no better deal in the sport.

“You have to be aggressive with takeout sometimes,” said Hawthorne Racing Analyst Jim Miller. “Minor drops are always welcome, but we wanted to be really aggressive. Our takeout in the past on these wagers was 17%, so to drop five percentage points to 12% is very significant. We wanted to make a splash and we want to put out a product that people will want to bet on. We want people to focus on our races. We know handle will have to increase to cover what we are losing in commissions with the lower takeout, but in first couple of days of racing we have seen that handle has increased and we are hopeful we will have a very good year.”

Hawthorne is also thinking out of the box when it comes to its racing schedule. They will not race on Saturdays in March, April or May, going with a two-day week that includes racing only on Thursdays and Sundays.

“What we're doing is smart,” Miller said. “Here's a great example. Normally, our opening day would have been last Saturday. That happened to be the same day that you had three major racetracks with Derby preps and three or four other stakes on the card. These are great circuits that people want to watch. You want to see what's going on at Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Santa Anita. We knew that if we threw our card out on that day, we wouldn't handle anymore than $600,000. By shifting that card to Thursday, we handled $1.2 million and that's because there's not as much competition and there is more exposure. We want to put our product out there where the gamblers can see it and see all that we have to offer and see that we are offering a 12% takeout on win, place and show wagers.”

For good reason, horseplayers love to complain about how high the takeout is in racing. The best way to fight back is to support tracks like Hawthorne when they go out of their way to offer the customer a better deal.

Tapit Trice Did Just Fine in the Tampa Bay Derby

Perhaps you were expecting Tapit Trice (Tapit) to win the GII Tampa Bay Derby in a cakewalk. The expectations were high for the grey 3-year-old and they should have been. By Tapit, trained by Todd Pletcher and a $1.3-million yearling purchase at Keeneland September, he forced his way into the conversation for the GI Kentucky Derby with an impressive eight-length win in an allowance race at Gulfstream. He was sent off at 1-2 in the Tampa Bay Derby for a reason, because he looked much better than everyone else on paper.

But nothing came easily for Tapit Trice in his two-length win. He was 11th of 12 down the backstretch and looked beaten when he was still ninth on the far turn and was being hard ridden by Luis Saez. But he kept grinding away and managed to draw clear in the final sixteenth. His Beyer figure, an 88, was nothing to get excited about.

Was his Tampa Bay Derby performance good enough to win the Derby? No. But that doesn't mean he can't win the Derby. At Tampa, he ran like a horse who is still figuring things out. There's one more race to go, the GI Toyota Blue Grass S., and eight weeks to go before he'll get into the starting gate for the Derby for the Hall of Famer Pletcher. Look for a better, more focused horse next time. He should be fine.

The weekend also included a big win by GI Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath (Arrogate) in the GII Azeri S. at Oaklawn. Beating a quality filly in Clairiere (Curlin) by 2 3/4 lengths, she couldn't have looked better. It was her first win since the Oaks.

Before the race, trainer Wayne Lukas said his goal for the year was to win an Eclipse Award with Secret Oath. With Nest (Curlin), last year's 3-year-old filly champion, back for another year, that won't be easy. But Secret Oath could not have gotten the year off to a better start.

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Arlington Park was one of Chris Davis' first loves and the 34-year-old conditioner is still quick to say that the now-closed historic track will always be his favorite place to watch racing. Davis developed a passion for the sport by following his parents, conditioner Liane Davis and assistant starter Hershell Davis, around the Chicago racing circuit. He worked for local trainers as a teenager and eventually ventured to other tracks across the country to serve as assistant for Wayne Catalano, Michael Stidham and Philip d'Amato.

Davis said that d'Amato was the one who gave him the push to go out on his own in the fall of 2016. It didn't take long for him to saddle his 100^th winner in 2021.

With around 30 horses in his stable and several graded stakes wins to his credit, Davis travels the Kentucky circuit throughout the majority of the year and races out of Gulfstream Park in the winter. Already this year, he has had two promising maiden winners on the Gulfstream turf in Dare To Dream Stable's Moon Cat (Malibu Moon) and Gary Broad's Royal Mende (Mendelssohn).

Royal Mende breaks his maiden in January at Gulfstream | Lauren King

What has been the key to your stable's growth since you first opened?

I started with two horses. Town and Country Farms gave me my first two and they've obviously had a lot of success over the years. Shannon Potter and Kiki Courtelis really jump started my career and I owe a lot to them. They gave me a lot of good quality horses from fairly early on, including my first stakes winner Moonlit Garden (Malibu Moon). She had been with Todd Pletcher in New York and they felt like she needed a bit more individual attention. I was riding basically all of my own horses and doing a lot of it myself. Her form was not very good when I got her. We individualized her and she ended up going back to New York a year and a half later and winning the Summer Colony S. She was also second in a stake at Monmouth and was beat by a nose in the GIII Houston Ladies Classic S. to none other than Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute).

It has kind of been a grind since starting out. It's hard to break through as a trainer without the really big connections or the support of a big bloodstock agent or syndicate. Being 34 and with this being our sixth full year now, we've had a fair amount of success in finding stakes horses. We do well at the 2-year-old sales. We stay within our budget and still seem to come out with maiden winners, or maybe a group or listed winner.

What do you believe makes your stable unique?

I think the fact that I've been around to a lot of places from coast to coast and the Midwest. I've worked with a wide variety of horses on the track throughout my career, from the time with my parents to with Mike, Phil and Wayne. Being around good horses, you get a good sense of a good horse and certain horses will remind you of others.

It's about individual attention and trying to fine tune what you have. Obviously you can't train on some horses in a smaller stable like some of the bigger stables because they have more waiting to come in to you. When you're a smaller trainer, you have to be able to get the most out of what you have and still be conservative and keep them sound. I think being able to individualize and keep a horse healthy so it can campaign for longer is a big benefit that we have.

What has been the biggest thing you have learned since going out on your own?

Probably client management. The horses are easy for the most part. They do make fools out of all of us, there's no question about that, but client management is the biggest thing. Richard Mandella told me years ago that people are going to try to tell you what to do. Being able to work with clients is the toughest transition from going to an assistant to being on your own. It's about dealing with the clients on a daily basis, not just the horses.

I do try to work with everyone's needs on a very personal level. We're pretty respectful of what the client wants. Obviously I won't run one for a tag if an owner doesn't want to run for a tag. If we were able to place every horse where they needed to belong, we would all win a lot more races and you would see a lot more 25-30% trainers out there–not just a certain five guys.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone going out on their own this year, what would it be?

Be patient. It's going to test you physically and mentally. The stress level of a Thoroughbred trainer, especially one starting out, is no joke.

Mike told me when I was struggling with two to four horses that you have to keep showing up and keep grinding. I took a lot of weight from his interview that he gave after winning the Dubai World Cup when he said, “It was finally my time.” He had been training horses for 40 years.

People will say, “That trainer came from out of nowhere,” when in all actuality he has been training for 20 years. Or people will say, “This guy is untouchable,” when maybe he wasn't five years ago, but now all of a sudden people are flocking to him. That's what happens because numbers breed success. You have more options, more liberty and you have a different clientele.

What is something that you think this incoming generation of trainers does better than the generations before them?

That's hard to say. Every generation has had to overcome certain things. You think back to when D. Wayne Lukas and Jack Van Berg really started the era of super trainers. Now it's just kind of keeping up with the Joneses as far as when you don't have that many horses coming in like the bigger stables, you have to be able to individualize.

I think the trainers just coming in like myself are facing a lot more medication overhaul than what was previously imposed. There is a lot more veterinary regulations.

Also the expense of owning a racehorse has gone up tremendously, which has caused some of the little owners who would potentially give a startup guy a horse or two to kind of just fizzle out. We're kind of seeing it go back to the “Sport of Kings” in that it's the super wealthy or the big syndicates that are really taking over. That's good and bad. If you're churning for those guys, it's great. If you're not, you're on the outside looking in. When you go to a sale, you know the guys you're going to go up against and you know the money behind them, so you're hoping you can get lucky.

Moonlit Garden wins the 2018 Summer Colony S. | Sarah Andrew

Who is your favorite horse that you've ever had in your stable?

I have a horse named City Drifter (Temple City) who is one of my all-time favorites. He's a barn favorite. He's a very honest horse. I've won six allowance races with him. He's won eight out of 26 starts. He seems like he always shows up and gives us what we have. He's a beautiful, stocky horse and is very easy to be around.

I also just retired a horse named Jimmy D (Haynesfield) who was the definition of a war horse. I got him when he was running for $5,000 in California. Subsequently as a 7-year-old after almost 70 starts, he won his first allowance race. He ended up winning 11 in his lifetime. I just retired him sound because he was at the end of his career and we hope to make him a stable pony.

If you could spend one afternoon at the track enjoying the day (i.e. not working), which track would you go to?

Well they closed it. Arlington Park. That's home and it was one of the best facilities to watch racing. I've been to most places in the country at some point or another and Arlington was probably the premier spot to go watch racing.

Del Mar, Santa Anita and Keeneland are up there with Arlington in terms of aesthetics, but as a patron, the accessability and layout of Arlington was probably the best.

If you aren't at the track, what can you be found doing?

Playing golf and taking care of a six-month-old baby.

If one change was made to racing that would make your life easier, what would it be?

There are a lot of things. In terms of medication reform, higher surveillance in the barns would be key to level the playing field. We had the Servis and Navarro scandal, but that stuff is still very prevalent today in my opinion. I would never be opposed to them putting cameras in every stall at every racetrack throughout the country.

What is your biggest hot take? It can be racing-related or completely random.

Time is only relevant in prison. A horse may work fast or maybe run a race slow, but you might have caught a fast track or a slow track or your horse might have just preferred the surface that day. There might have been a speed bias or a closing bias. I think people overestimate times.

Click here for more from our 'Earning Their Stripes' series.

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The website Front Office Sports published details Jan. 8. The news is of peripheral interest to horse racing enthusiasts, because the Bears have otherwise entered into a purchase agreement to instead build a $5-billion stadium on the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse.

Although the specifics of the proposal are new, city officials have been on record for well over a year saying that they would like to work out a plan to keep the Bears within Chicago and not see the team move to the suburb of Arlington Heights.

The topic has percolated in recent months because the Bears disclosed in September that public funding would be necessary to build the new stadium. Team officials had not previously acknowledged that taxpayers might be on the hook for the $5-billion stadium build, which is separate from the land transaction.

The $197-million sale of the 326-acre Arlington property has been in a due-diligence process since September 2021, which is when Arlington last hosted Thoroughbred racing. The deadline for closing on the deal is March 2023, although the gaming corporation that is selling Arlington, Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), could always extend the deadline by negotiating further with the Bears.

In an open letter published on the football team's website, the Bears stated, “We remain under contract to purchase the property, but there are conditions that must be met in order to be in a position to close. If we do close on the property, it does not guarantee we will develop it. While under contract with the seller of Arlington Park, we will not be discussing or exploring any other alternative stadium sites or opportunities, including renovations of Soldier Field.”

During the summer and fall of 2022, CDI auctioned off the contents of Arlington, selling everything from office and kitchen items to the racetrack's marker poles, finish lines, starting gates, signage and artwork.

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The 2023 races are slated to be run on Aug. 12.

In November, it was announced that Churchill had acquired the assets of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment LLC, the owners of Colonial Downs.

“Churchill has made a request and the committee will review it,” said  Andy Schweigardt, secretary for the American Graded Stakes Committee. “They hope to have a meeting before Christmas to make a decision.”

Approving Churchill's request may not be a formality. Schweigardt explained that in order for the committee to grant approval to a track to move a graded race a number of factors have to be taken into account.

“They have a rule that covers this that was instituted many years ago,” he said. “We consider moves on a case-by-case basis. The basic requirements are that the new venue has to be in the same region as the old racetrack and the name, conditions, calendar date and purse of the relocated race have to be substantially similar to previous years.”

When asked if Colonial in Virginia is in the same region as Churchill and Arlington,  Schweigardt said: “To me, no. But that's just me. The previous tracks would be considered to be in the Midwest. I'm not sure Virginia would be considered the Midwest.”

The 2022 Secretariat was not run because Churchill was having issues with its turf course at the time and track officials wanted to limit the number of races run over it.

Colonial's turf course is a mile-and-an-eighth in circumference and is the widest grass course in North America.

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A Chicago-area veteran and established local TV news anchor, Ron Magers knows a good story when he hears one. It was Gulfstream Park in the spring of 1990 when Ron, accompanied by his wife, Elise, were making their way out of the paddock on their way to the airport at the end of the day's races. When something shiny in the dirt caught Elise's eye, she bent and scooped up what was an unassuming and fake-appearing diamond tennis bracelet. In a hurry to make their flight back to Chicago, the pair decided to figure out the identity of the missing bracelet's owner the next day.

“The next morning in Chicago, we were closing on a real estate purchase,” Magers said. “Elise pulled a pen out of her purse and the bracelet was caught on the clip. We told our attorney about the find and he suggested we start by getting it appraised to see if it is real.”

A local jeweler examined the piece and determined that not only were the stones real, but that they were of high quality and worth quite a bit of money. Ron's attorney made a quick phone call back to Gulfstream Park to inform them of the found item of value and, within a couple of days, heard back from a man in California whose wife had lost her bracelet while visiting Gulfstream.

“It turns out that the California man knew Chicago jeweler Lester Lampert, [so] we took the bracelet to Lampert who had it returned to the owners in California. The owner had offered a reward so we gave him the name of a Chicago charity we supported and suggested he send the reward as a donation.”

A story with a happy ending. But, little did Magers know, his story was just beginning.

“Another attorney, Howard Feinstein, called me [later] to say that he knew our attorney and had heard about the bracelet story. He had also been told of our love of horse racing and that we were thinking about buying a racehorse,” Mager said.

From humble beginnings, a partnership was formed.

“[Howard asked], did I have $10,000 that I'd be willing to throw out the window in hopes of having some fun and learning about racing? That's the way he [Howard] approached things. He also joked that anyone dumb enough to return that bracelet was the kind of person that he wanted to take advantage of. [I liked that], Howard was fun.”

As the pair settled into their partnership, Ron's love for the sport only grew and by the summer of 1991, he was ready to buy a horse on his own.

“Trainer Bob Voelkner turned down several horses I proposed claiming,” Magers said. “He finally agreed to put in a claim for a filly named Lemhi Go who was running for a tag of $16,000.”

Lemhi Go (Lemhi Gold), a 3-year-old Virginia-bred, won the race and there were four other claims put in for her besides Magers's. One winning shake of the dice later, Ron Magers was now the owner of his own racehorse.

And what a horse she would go on to become. Racing under the aptly named Diamond Stable, Lemhi Go picked up wins in the GIII Arlington Matron H. and the GII La Prevoyante H. before retiring with a record of 41-12-5-6 and earnings of over $330,000

“When her racing career was over, we sent her to Needham/Betz Farm in Kentucky to be sold as a potential broodmare,” Magers remembered. “That choice came at the urging of longtime horseman, Rob Marcocchio, who had done business before with that farm.”

Thankfully for Magers, he was talked out of the decision to sell.

“A few weeks later, the farm owner, Bill Betz, called me to say he didn't want to see this mare sold. I told him I knew nothing about the breeding business and wasn't sure it was for me. His proposal was to have the mare appraised, the farm would buy half, and we would be equal partners sharing the same risk while I would learn about breeding.”

In what would prove to be a wise choice, Magers kept Lemhi Go and bred her that first year to GISW Gone West. The resulting filly, named Triple Treasure, sold for $650,000 as a yearling. Magers retained Lemhi Go's second foal, a filly by MGISW Summer Squall, before finally selling Lemhi Go, in foal to 3-year-old champion colt and GI Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, in the 1996 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $400,000. That Summer Squall filly, later named Temporada, would go on to produce a Kentucky Derby contender in 2016 GII Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth S. winner Zulu (Bernardini).

“Elise and I continued to breed a band of mares with Needham Betz and other partners for more than 25 years,” said Magers. “We had great success along the way and one of our last crops of yearlings included champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu (Gun Runner).”

Echo Zulu wins the GI NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies | Eclipse Sportswire

As Magers prepares to step away from the racing and breeding industry after over 30 years, he couldn't help but go back to where the whole story started.

“We stepped away from the breeding business in 2019 but, in wrapping [that up], we bought back three babies from the partnerships out of a line that traced back to Lemhi Go,” said Magers. “All three raced at Gulfstream Park with trainer Ralph Nicks and all three were mid-level claiming winners running in bright, coral-colored silks with a black diamond on the back.”

Magers admits, “It is a delightful way to end our career with horses.” He continued, “Diamonds will last forever and, for us, so will the stories and memories that came with a career in racing and breeding.”

The post Ron Magers Reflects On His Decades In Racing And Breeding appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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