The box is filled mostly with creaky photo albums stuffed full of old newspaper clippings pasted onto faded paper, laminated win pictures–the plastic as brittle as sheet-ice–and handwritten letters. There are magazines and an old DVD and family photographs taken when Kodak shops weren't just a punchline for Millennials.

The box has remained undisturbed for years–since its subject, trainer Richard Pierce Hazelton, passed away–only to be unearthed during a spring clean, quite by chance, near the anniversary of his passing in 2019 when he was 88.

“King Richard” lies 10th on America's all-time winning-most trainer list, 4,745 victories officially to his name. Between Hawthorne, Arlington and Sportsman's Park alone, he held 36 individual training titles. For those counting, add another 15 from Turf Paradise.

But like many such boxes–dusty treasure troves stuffed into corner or closet and brought out only occasionally–its narrow scope, a few scattered years among decades, holds something of a frustrating paradox.

While offering up much so more than just its contents, the box still feels an unsatisfying relic, the memories hidden within telling only fragments, leaving one to wonder at what else has already slipped entirely away.

“If Hazelton trains 'em… he's a runner…”

On May 21, 1971, Ellyn Shaunahoff sat down to what one imagines was a desk overlooking a pretty primrose garden and put pen to paper–in florid cursive baby-blue ballpoint–to ask Hazelton for any information on Maxwell G., then a prolific winner in less than prolific contests.

Maxwell G. had been Shaunahoff's favorite horse since attending her first race meet at Hollywood Park on April 19, 1969.

“I have followed him ever since and have cheered his stretch runs many a time,” she writes. “I've been to Del Mar, Santa Anita and even Turf Paradise to see him race.”

At that point in time, Ellyn assumed the then-10-year-old had retired, saying he had “about reached the age limit for racing.” As it turned out, Shaunahoff was a little premature in relegating the old veteran to pipe and slipper.

“There must be a fountain of youth hidden somewhere in Chicago,” wrote the Illinois scribe, Neil Milbert, about the 11-year-old, who had just scored his third victory in a row at Arlington Park just one year later. Even then, AARP was forced to hold fire on sending their magazine to the horse fans called “Maxie.”

Indeed, it wasn't until five years later, in 1977, that Maxwell G. ran his last race when the “grizzled gelding,” as one writer put it, was but a supple 16-year-old.

Maxwell G. in a clipping found in Hazelton's box of memories | Courtesy of Dan Ross

“Grizzled” really doesn't do the horse justice. A picture from 1972 shows Maxie–tall, raw-boned, yet handsome in elder statesman fashion–standing serenely beside his groom, large ears pinned forward as though gathering radio signals.

By the time of his swan song, Maxwell G. had won 47 out of a staggering 233 career starts, not all for Hazelton, who had claimed him for $1,000 at Yakima Meadows, in Washington, in May of 1965 (another story has it that Hazelton claimed him for $6,200 in 1968 at the Los Angeles County Fair).

It was Hazelton's touch, however, that gave this lowly claimer the veneer of a celluloid star.

The Chicago Sun-Times claimed that Maxwell G., at the height of his fame, brought thousands of fans to the track, lured by his Houdini-like theatrics, when he would race far off the pace before making “a bold bid to win,” as one writer prosaically put it.

Another scribe describes this last gasp maneuver with a tad more relish: “Typically, he will start a race slowly, plodding along behind the field until about the quarter-mile from the finish. Then he will swing wide and make a mad dash for the wire.”

By the time Hazelton had turned 80, memories of his own life were hazy or as terse as Hemingway's prose.

“My dad was involved in horse racing,” he told the poor writer of a Hawthorne Racecourse program, one obviously hoping for Horatio Alger. “I went to live with him when I was seven or eight years old. He had horses. I started galloping them and then I started riding them when I was 14.”

Not exactly edge of the seat stuff.

Hazelton's stint as an apprentice rider can hardly be deemed a bust, not when, south of the border, fans referred to him as “El Ricardo.” But here's his own take on that brief spell, 65 years later.

“I first rode in Phoenix. That's where I was born and raised. I was the leading rider at Caliente in Mexico in 1945. I went to work for the Klein Cattle Company after my stint as a jockey.”

A baby-faced Hazelton (far left, seated) | Courtesy of Dan Ross

When it came to his horses, however, Hazelton's mind suddenly illuminated, as though a bolt of lightning had passed through it.

“I lost him three or four times but I always claimed him back,” Hazelton remembered, of Maxwell G. “He was a favorite of announcer Phil Georgeff. I remember they took him to the paddock in front of the grandstand and gave him two bushel baskets full of apples. They even named a race for him at Sportsman's and ran it for a few years.”

Hazelton added, proudly: “He was the only horse that was ever on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.”

The 1974 front page Wall Street Journal story in question wouldn't pass editorial muster by today's standards.

“If ever a racehorse was a candidate for the glue factory, it was Maxwell G.,” the story begins, in Dickensian fashion, explaining how poor Maxie, at the age of five, suffered a badly injured left foot, snagged in barbed wire while out punching cattle.

Hazelton would manage the problem appendage with a special shoe that eased the pressure on it. Maxwell G. would repay this favor through what's described in the Journal as “calm affection” and a willingness to “nuzzle strangers.”

As Hazelton put it, “He wouldn't give a nickel for an earthquake.”

Stable hands, the Journal notes, adored the horse.

“When another owner bought Maxwell G. in a claiming race two years ago, one stable hand came to Mr. Hazelton in tears, threatening to quit if he didn't buy back Maxwell G.,” writes the Journal. Hazelton did what was demanded of him.

“What's really amazing is that he's done it the hard way, a nickel and dime at a time,” Hazelton said of the horse's career–an assessment seemingly apropos of the trainer himself and so many of his trainees.

Take Full Pocket, a horse a Sportsman's Park program writer described as one of the “finest” Hazelton ever trained. He was certainly one of the nation's finest and fastest handicap sprinters during that era. In 1973, he won more than $200,000 and was second in the Eclipse Award balloting to champion Shecky Greene for Sprinter of the Year.

Special mention goes to Full Pocket's 3-year-old “reign of terror at Sportsman's.”

This included the “dandy young star's” imperious victory in the $38,400 National Jockey Club Handicap, before a Labor Day crowd of nearly 24,000, when he led home stablemate Moonsplash for “Cowboy Richard,” as one contemporary reporter coined the trainer.

Postage stamp Full Pocket was hardly a Colossus of Rhodes, “something breeders will hold against him,” one miser once noted. But that didn't stop breeders from trying anyway.

By the time the horse retired to stud at Hurstland Farm, in Kentucky–a good outcross to mares with Nearco blood, noted the 1974 Stallion Directory and Farm Register–Full Pocket had won 27 of his 47 lifetime starts and placed in 14 others. He also won 17 stakes and was placed in 11 more.

Again, Hazelton's 80-year-old mind came alive at the horse's memory. “He was one of the reasons I came to Chicago,” said the native of Arizona. “I brought him from the yearling sale for Mr. Bensinger, of the Brunswick Corporation. He named all of his horses. We paid $18,000. That was a lot of money back then. He was never a great sire, but he certainly was a runner.”

Dates and details, places and people–the box is something of a scramble of puzzle pieces sharing oftentimes conflicting information, giving the trainer a shape-shifting quality that somehow only sweetens the myth.

Part of the reason appears to be the man's aversion to the press. As one scribe put it, “I tried to interview him for years but Mr. Hazelton didn't like to talk about himself–or to me.”

One such seemingly slippery fact surrounds his age.

“Jockey records in 1945 list him as having been born in 1929,” wrote longtime Sportsman's Park fixture Don Grisham, of Hazelton's Icarus-like career in the saddle for his father, George. “As a supposed 16-year-old in '45, he finished among top apprentice riders in North America.”

Grisham's “supposed” does a lot of heavy lifting, for the minimum age for apprentices back then was 16.

“However, in those days, it was possible for an underage youngster to get by stewards and begin riding before turning 16. There is reason to believe Hazleton might have fallen into in this category. It is a matter of record he emerged a riding star at Arizona tracks and Caliente. One nine-race card at Caliente, he rode six winners, two seconds, and a third during a single afternoon.”

The melting sun to Hazleton's Icarus dream was biological. “Increasing weight soon terminated his saddle career,” Grisham noted, with blunt assessment.

The handwritten win photo date with Hazelton aside the horse is 1948 | Courtesy of Dan Ross

What happened then depends upon the bard.

One version is that Hazelton returned to his studies in Phoenix, where the natural athlete became a prep school football star. Another is that he became a mainstay of the Southwestern rodeo circuit. Either way, it wasn't long before the Stetson-loving Arizonan turned his hand to training. Some reports pin the date as late as 1957. A tattered win picture from 1948 lists Hazelton as the trainer.

“After struggling for a while to saddle his first winner, the day finally came in Silver City, New Mexico. But Richard would have to wait until he was 26-years-old for his first 'bread-'n-butter' horse, a $500 claimer named Foxation,” one profiler made of Hazelton's early years with a license.

The box yields precious little of Foxation but considerably more of Zip Pocket, whom Hazelton saddled in 1967 to a 5 1/2-furlong world record of :55 1/2. The following year, Zip Pocket set a world record of 1:07 1/5 for three-quarters of a mile.

“Was it because of the biochemicals sprayed on the track or is Zip Pocket really that fast?” asked writer Pete Peters, after the horse's winning appearance at Turf Paradise.

Peters, a brylcreemed pipe-smoking staff writer for the Gazette, had the full-faced appearance of someone with limited athletic inclination. This is in stark contrast to the typical Hazelton runner, jettisoned into racing folklore as though shot from a cannon.

“If Hazelton trains 'em… he's a runner…” one observer described it. An early example was the Rudy Krize-owned “speed-geared grey colt” Wandering Boy, who came out on top in a $3,500 winner-takes-all duel at Turf Paradise against the Quarter Horse, Arizonan.

The clippings bear no date, but given how weathered is the tissue-thin newspaper, the late 1960s seem a safe bet. The following decade the trainer stepped it up another gear, with much of his success hinged upon bringing an army of horses West to East before commandeering the Chicago claiming circuit to make room for fresh legs.

“Contrary to rumors, Richard Hazelton did not suggest this dinner. Hal has claimed 11 horses off Richard this year and won only one race with the sum total,” said trainer Bill Resseguet, at a dinner–which sounds more like a roast–organized by the Chicago chapter of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association in honor of trainer Hal Bishop.

“I realize Richard is most appreciative of unloading those 11 horses,” Resseguet deadpanned.

The observation, though couched in jest, provides a useful entry point into the subject's character.

On the one hand, Hazelton is made as inscrutable as an IRS inspector.

“Husky,” one scribe calls him. Another, “a man of few words.” “Taciturn.” A “dark-browed horseman who prefers boots and Stetson.” And a “modest wonder man from Arizona” with “his ever-present cowboy hat and slow Western drawl.”

Yet ambition doesn't run on empty fumes alone.

Richard Hazelton | Courtesy of Dan Ross

To the Chicago Sun-Times, Hazelton let slip the mask. “It's been a difficult job,” Hazelton said of plans to reach 5,000 wins, “but I have been averaging approximately 134 winners a year so maybe in the year 2001 I can brag of what I did in less than 40 years.”

The pipe-puffing Pete Peters managed to elicit from Hazelton another rare peek through the same slim aperture. “I finally landed him,” crowed Hazelton about the wealthy businessman, Harold Florsheim, who Hazelton lured to his owners' ranks for the 1966-67 Turf Paradise racing season.

“I've been after him for a long time but I couldn't convince him to come West with his horses,” Hazelton added. “He finally consented. He's got some good stock.”

Modeling the trainer's work ethic, Don Grisham at Sportsman's Park turned to a quote of Hemingway's: “You got to learn something: Never confuse movement for action.”

As Grisham put it, “There is always tote action on Hazelton-trained horses. As for the movement, Hazelton was in Kentucky Friday to inspect yearlings with Harold Florsheim, the shoe magnate. He jetted back in time to saddle two winners on Saturday's card, including Glory Run in the $22,425 Crete Handicap.”

In her husband, Marge Hazelton–a champion calf roper and an integral part of the story–saw an “uncanny ability to remember all the horses on the grounds and what they have done in each of their races. His memory helps him put our horses in races in which they have a good chance of winning.”

With her husband's ego evidently in mind, Marge added: “He can't remember anything else, of course.”

Then comes Dr. Richard Radke, the former orthodontist and a key patron of Hazelton's over decades.

Radke believed his trainer of having “one of the highest IQs of anyone I've ever met, but not many people are aware of that because he's so modest and quiet,” or so he told John McEvoy of the Daily Racing Form.

Hazelton's parsimonious approach to shared connection had some unintended side effects.

“There have been a few times that we didn't have the best communication,” Radke added, warmly. “Times like when I'd call up Richard and ask about one of my horses, and Richard would say, 'Oh, I sold him for you. I guess I didn't call you about that.'”

Given how often the search for a father's approval launches the hero's journey–or so says Joseph Campbell–perhaps the most telling insight is from Hazelton's own tongue, shared on the back of a Sportsman's Park program in a potted bio in which we also learn the trainer's favorite food (steak) and favorite movie (“Shawshank Redemption”).

“I'm very proud of my father, George. He was a real 'man's man',” Hazelton said. “He had that rare ability, I think we call it charisma, to draw people to him.”

Believed to be a Hazelton shedrow | Courtesy of Dan Ross

“Arlington builds a great deal right around you”

Where naval gazing has now become all but a national occupation, Hazelton offers a refreshing alternative, one very much of its time, when exterior interests held almost exclusively one's private inward-lit gaze.

The box is a sobering reminder of this at a time when it can feel as though the coattails of horse racing have snagged on some fast-moving bullet train, dragging it forward to goodness knows where, bumping and somersaulting, never able to quite get its footing. For it is not lost how Hazelton's favorite playgrounds are now an aberration of his memory–Arlington a tumbleweed ghost town and Turf Paradise a derelict disgrace.

So, why not turn to the architects of this collection of halcyon summers for advice on where indeed to tread now–people like Richard Duchossois, then Arlington's chairman when in May of 2011 he wrote to Hazelton the sort of letter one imagines rarely escapes today's sterile racetrack boardrooms.

“We are delighted you have returned to Arlington,” Duchossois wrote, when the trainer had all but stored away for good the stable's shingle. “You are one of the staples of Arlington and Arlington builds a great deal right around you.”

He wasn't wrong–a good deal right was built around Hazelton. And so, after all, maybe it's okay if the box contains only a sliver of the great arc that constitutes a life greatly lived, just as long as every now and then such memoirs are unearthed, rediscovered anew, spread out across the floor in the evening lamplight by the kneeling archeologist with a lump in their throat.

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Richard L. Duchossois, the former owner of Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Ill., and known throughout the racing world as a tireless promoter of the sport and a gracious host at big events, died at the age of 100 Friday morning at his Barrington Hills home in suburban Chicago.

Born Oct 7, 1921, Duchossois graduated from Morgan Park Military Academy and was called in to active military service during World War II while attending Washington and Lee University in Virginia. He served in five European campaigns as a tank commander under Gen. George Patton and received numerous citations before being released from active duty as a Major in 1946.

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Duchossois was born in 1921 in Chicago and was a graduate of Washington and Lee University. He joined the Army in 1942 and became the commander of Company C of the 610th Tank Destroyer Battalion, which landed on Utah Beach in Normandy. He served in five European campaigns and later served as the military governor for the region of Eichstatt. He was released from active service in 1946 and was awarded the Purple Heart and two bronze stars.

After the war, he became the CEO and president of the Thrall Manufacturing Company, a company founded in 1916 that specialized in repairing and leasing rail cars. In 1978, the company diversified by buying The Chamberlain Group, a maker of consumer goods and defense products. In 1983, Duchossois bought out the Thrall family and renamed the company Duchossois Industries, Inc. The business would later diversify and operate as both an investment company and a company that makes access control systems such as garage door openers.

Duchossois started in the racing business as an owner and a breeder and operated out of Hill 'N' Dale Farm in Barrington, Illinois, which developed into one of the top breeders in the state. Over the years, he campaigned a number of stakes horses, including Eclair de Lune (GER) (Marchand de Sable), who won the 2011 running of the GI Beverly D. S., a race he named after his late wife.

In 1983, Duchossois Industries bought Arlington Park, then the flagship track among the Chicago racing circuit, from Gulf & Western. On July 31, 1985 Duchossois was returning from a birthday celebration when he received a phone call that Arlington was on fire. He arrived at the track by helicopter to watch as all five levels of the grandstand were engulfed in flames. The track was destroyed. Read more here.

In less than a month, Arlington was scheduled to run the GI Arlington Million, the sport's first $1-million race. Undeterred, Duchossois vowed to hold the race.

“Some people said it would be impossible, but I said, 'I'm the owner, and we're going to run the Million race. Period,'” he told the Chicago Tribune in 2015.

Arlington employees worked around the clock to erect tents and makeshift stands and the race, dubbed the “Miracle Million,” was held with more than 35,000 people in attendance. Recognizing the efforts it took to be able to hold the Million, the Arlington team was honored with a special Eclipse Award.

It took four years for Arlington to be rebuilt and Duchossois was not content to build just another racetrack. Renaming the track Arlington International Race Course, Duchossois set out to create one of the most beautiful tracks in the world, putting an estimated $175 million into the rebuild.

“I've always worked to please our customers,” Duchossois told the Associated Press in 2021. “There's nothing we have done there that hasn't been built for the customers.”

Arlington enjoyed another moment in the spotlight when Cigar was lured to the track in 1996 in an attempt to tie Citation's record of 16 straight wins. Cigar won the $1,050,000 race, called the Citation Challenge, before a crowd of 34,223. In 2002, Arlington hosted the Breeders' Cup.

In 2000, Duchossois negotiated a $72-million stock deal which allowed Churchill Downs to take over Arlington Park. The transaction made Duchossois, at the time, the largest shareholder in the Churchill Company.

“We believe that Churchill Downs' business strategy and its commitment to excellence are aligned with our own operating philosophy,” Duchossois said at the time. “We have the shared vision of dedication to customer service and a commitment to the live racing experience and the growth of simulcast sales.”

While Duchossois remained the face of Arlington Park for several years after it was purchased by Churchill, Churchill's focus soon started to drift from racing to gaming. In 2019, Churchill announced that it would not apply for a license to open a casino at Arlington and would, instead, close the track after the end of the 2021 season. It is believed that Churchill did not want an Arlington casino to compete with a casino it owns in nearby Des Plaines, Illinois.  What will likely be the last ever race run at Arlington was held Sept. 25, 2021. Arlington first raced in 1927.

Under Churchill, the Arlington Million underwent a name change in 2021 to the Mister D. Stakes, in honor of Duchossois. The purse was reduced to $600,000.

Somewhat surprisingly, Duchossois was publicly supportive of Churchill's decision to close and sell the track.

“I think Churchill has two of the finest managers in the country,” he told the AP.

Duchossois earned many honors in racing, including the American Jockey Club's Gold Medal and the Joe Palmer Award for Meritorious Service to Racing from the National Turf Writers Association. He was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and named one of their Pillars of the Turf in 2019.

Tributes:

“We are profoundly saddened today by the loss of Richard Duchossois. He was a tireless champion of Churchill Downs and thoroughbred racing. His impact on those of us involved in this industry was simply immeasurable. He was a mentor and friend to so many in Churchill Downs, most especially me, and we will all miss his grace, wisdom and humor. His contributions to Churchill Downs and thoroughbred racing were merely a small part of his extraordinary life. They call his generation 'America's Greatest' and to be fortunate to spend time with this man was to be in the presence of a truly special individual who led a full life of sacrifice, commitment and service to others. We will mourn him, miss him and wonder if there could ever be another like Richard Duchossois.” -Churchill Downs Incorporated CEO Bill Carstanjen

“On behalf of Illinois Thoroughbred owners and trainers, we extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Dick Duchossois.

“Mr. D served our nation with distinction and thereafter brought his enduring tenacity and exceptional work ethic to the helm of Arlington Park–a track he worked to build into a world-class destination for Thoroughbred horse racing.

“As we mourn his loss, we are reminded of his immense contributions to Thoroughbred racing in North America, most especially here in Illinois. His imprint on the sport and industry was vast and will not be forgotten.” -Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association

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In an interview with the Daily Herald, Duchossois said the 2019 legislation that gave Illinois racetracks the right to operate a casino came “too late” for Arlington Park. By the time the law passed, CDI already had purchased an interest in the Rivers Casino, about 10 miles away from Arlington Park. It now is the casino's majority owner.

Illinois horsemen were stunned when CDI officials announced months after the bill was signed into law that they would not seek a license to operate a casino at Arlington Park. CDI's chief executive officer, Bill Carstanjen, announced plans to sell the property last year and began accepting bids earlier this year. Among the interested parties are the NFL's Chicago Bears. At least one group is interested in keeping racing alive at Arlington by developing a portion of the property but maintaining the track, grandstand and stabling.

Arlington Park did not apply for 2022 racing dates.

“If they (Illinois lawmakers) would've gotten their head out of the sand and done it five or 10 years earlier, whole different ballgame,” Duchossois said. “Who knows what would have happened then. But at least we would've been given the chance to compete fairly, and they didn't allow that. And now they're saying Churchill is at fault? That just doesn't make any sense.”

Duchossois, like his father a former member of the CDI board of directors, told the Daily Herald discussions about closing Arlington and developing the property came up a number of years ago.

Arlington merged with CDI in 2000, making the Duchossois family the largest single shareholder in the company whose flagship racetrack, Churchill Downs, and its headquarters are located in Louisville, Ky. Churchill Downs also owns Fair Grounds in Louisiana and Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania (both tracks also have casinos) but ceased racing operations at Calder in Florida (replacing it with jai alai to maintain a casino license) and sold Hollywood Park in California to a land development company that eventually closed the track and built a football stadium there.

In February 2021, CDI repurchased one million of the three million shares reportedly held by The Duchossois Group. The private transaction was valued at $193.9 million.

Craig Duchossois was interviewed by the Daily Herald on the afternoon of the track's signature event, formerly known as Arlington Million Day. The  Arlington Million, inaugurated in 1981, had its named changed to the Mr. D. Stakes to honor Richard Duchossois, while the prize money was slashed from $1 million to $600,000. Duchossois, 99 years old, did not attend.

Read more at the Daily Herald

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Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., started the action when High Oak drew away for an impressive 4 1/4-length win in the $200,000 Grade 2 Saratoga Special presented by Miller Lite in Race 9. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, High Oak won the 6 1/2-furlong main track sprint for juveniles in a final time of 1:16.53 under jockey Junior Alvarado. Off at 10-1, he returned $22.40 on a $2 win wager.

The remainder of the sequence featured all Grade 1 contests, commencing with the $400,000 Beverly D. for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up competing at 1 3/16 miles on the Arlington turf in Race 7. Even-money favorite Santa Barbara [$4], the winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational last month at Belmont Park, posted a three-length win under rider Ryan Moore, who traveled from Europe for the mount. Conditioned by internationally acclaimed trainer Aidan O'Brien, Santa Barbara completed the course in 1:54.55.

In Saratoga's 10th race, Got Stormy bested males to win the $500,000 Grade 1 Fourstardave for 3-year-olds and up for the second time in her career. Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Got Stormy, the 2019 Fourstardave winner, bested Set Piece by 1 1/2 lengths under Tyler Gaffalione, hitting the wire in 1:33.09 for the one-mile inner turf contest. Got Stormy [$27] won at 12-1. Her sire, Get Stormy, won the 2010 edition of the Fourstardave.

The premier race day at Arlington – located in Arlington Heights, Illinois – closed the wager with the final two races, starting with Point Me By's 2 3/4-length win in the $300,000 Bruce D. for 3-year-olds going one mile on the turf in Race 8. The Bruce D., formerly known as the Secretariat, saw the Eddie Kenneally-trained Point Me By win as the favorite, returning $5.40. Luis Saez, who traveled from Saratoga for the card, piloted Point Me By to victory, notching a final time of 1:37.70.

Arlington's Race 9 concluded the sequence when Two Emmys edged heavy favorite Domestic Spending by a neck in a thrilling finish to the $600,000 Mr. D. for 3-year-olds and up competing at 1 1/4 miles on the turf. It was potentially the last running for the contest formerly known as the Arlington Million and renamed for long-time Arlington owner Richard Duchossois, honoring the 99-year-old World War II veteran. Two Emmys, trained by Hugh Robertson and ridden by James Graham, went gate-to-wire and put his nose on the wire at 2:03.34 to get the win.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, on ADW platforms, and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

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Three doors down from me at 1512 Clearwater Drive lived a heavy-set, middle-aged man named Bert Loebmann. He and a partner campaigned a then 4-year-old filly named Diablo Morn (that I still remember this name 40 years later is either really frightening or super impressive, you decide). Bert was an enthusiastic horse owner, even if Diablo Morn wasn't going to make him famous–or anyone else, for that matter. Trained by Jerry D. McGrath, she made her first few Chicago appearances in allowance company at Hawthorne (purse $9,700), but she eventually found her level at Arlington the next summer, finishing second with Pat Day for $11,500 claiming before winning two starts later on the grass under John Lively for $13,000. She got her picture taken twice in 32 starts, she earned a shade more than $27,000.

Roughly diagonal from my home, at 707 Clearwater Court, resided Paul Levy, a dark-skinned, shortish man who looked the part of a horseplayer (maybe even a bigger gambler than I ever realized). My parents were friendlier with the Levys than they were with the Loebmanns. Paul was a gambler, but did not own any horses. In my early teens, Paul would take me and his stepson, my classmate Michael, to the track, where we'd try to turn two bucks into an undefined larger sum by betting show parlays. I remember vividly that Paul wanted no part of Sunny's Halo when the 1983 GI Kentucky Derby winner shipped in for the GI Arlington Classic. He insisted Play Fellow was the right horse. He was not wrong and got paid nearly 5-1 for that opinion.

Between my two neighbors, a lifelong fan was created. I attended my first Arlington Million a few months later, its third running. John Henry was looking to add to his victory in the inaugural renewal of America's original seven-figure race, but when it was announced that the turf condition was to be listed as 'good,' I turned my attention a easy-ground loving horse trained by someone called Luca Cumani. I knew nothing of him, nor was I remotely aware that placings in races like the 2000 Guineas, St James' Palace, Eclipse S. and Sussex S. were a highly positive thing. In any event, the task seemed extremely tall for Tolomeo and Pat Eddery, the tote read 38-1 (well, probably read 30-1, to be fair). I proudly bet $2 to show and watched Tolomeo knife through late to take down 'Big John.' He paid $17.80 to show. What did I know from exactas, er, perfectas? I was only 16 and probably wasn't supposed to be betting at all. Tolomeo remains the only 3-year-old winner of the Million to this day. And John got his second in emphatic style the next summer, defeating Robert Sangster's future GI Breeders' Cup Mile winner Royal Heroine (whose sire Lypheor was also responsible for Tolomeo) and Gato del Sol.

Having graduated WHS in 1985, I took a trip to Germany (I'd been named student of the year in the language, hold your applause), but I got desperately homesick, flew home a few days early. Not long after my return, on July 31, and just a couple of weeks before I was set to enter freshman year at the University of Illinois, I learned that the track was on fire. It felt like I could reach out and grab the tower of black smoke all the way from 1518 Clearwater. I got in my Chevy Impala, drove that direction and somehow managed to watch the conflagration from the adjacent train station parking lot. One of the saddest sights I have ever seen. You all know of the never-say-die attitude of Richard L. Ducchossois, the tent city, Teleprompter defeating Greinton to win the 'Miracle Million.'

I became a bit disconnected from racing while in college, though I did make the occasional visit to the OTB in Champaign. I moved back to Wheeling in the early 1990s and met up with Walt, Bill and Jerry, older gentlemen from nearby suburbs, and my friend to this day Rob, roughly my age and who–more than any other person–is responsible for stoking my interest in racing. Every Saturday, without fail, we'd meet on the Arlington apron, watch the horses gallop around, listen to backstretch banter, handicap and plan for that afternoon's rendezvous.

In 1995, I had a close-up with Mariah's Storm. That was cool, given how she has impacted the Thoroughbred breed over the last two-plus decades. Mariah and the locally based Golden Gear were the first two horses I got to know 'up close and personal' that went on to the Breeders' Cup.

I also made the acquaintance of a trainer named Neil Pessin, made my first trip to Keeneland that fall, an overnight car ride with Rob, had breakfast at the Keeneland track kitchen, fell asleep waiting to see A.P. Indy at Lane's End. True story. By the way, did you know Neil ran one in the Million? Coaxing Matt was sixth to Star of Cozzene (minus Lure) in terrible ground in '93.

The 1995 Million holds a very special place all these years later. My late father wasn't much of a racing fan, but he quickly pored over the PPs and asked me to bet on Awad for him. With the late Kevin Goemmer on the mic that year and with dad listening on the radio (WBBM, I think, maybe WIND), David Donk's long-winded galloper took advantage of a lively pace to beat Sandpit (Brz) at nearly 6-1, adding to his 22-1 upset of the GI Secretariat S. two years prior. Marlin completed that same double in 1996/1997 (Stevens masterfully walked the dog) before the track closed for two years.

In the summer of '96, I got to feel what it might have been like when Secretariat paid a visit to Arlington some 23 years earlier. Cigar put better than 34,000 into the stands July 13, looking to equal Citation's modern-day record of 16 victories in a row. With 130 pounds and the weight of the Thoroughbred world on his back, the Horse of the Year turned for home to a deafening roar from the crowd and rolled to a comfortable success. He received a hero's welcome when he came back in front of the stands. Sure glad I decided to leave the company picnic that day to see my equine hero. It ranks as easily my most memorable and thrilling moment as a horse racing fan.

Right there in my backyard.

To herald the return of the Million in 2000, the purse was doubled and Juddmonte's Chester House–maybe the best-feeling horse I've ever seen in the build-up to a big race–gave Bobby Frankel his first of two Millions. Beat Hollow took the 2002 renewal for a mere $1-million pot. Speaking of 2002, the gang and I sat out on the apron freezing our butts off for the only Breeders' Cup hosted by the track. Couldn't have had Volponi, but did cash a nice bet on Vindication.

Other names to grace the Million trophy include the venerable The Tin Man, the versatile Gio Ponti, the popular Little Mike. In 2015, I made a non-working trek to visit my brother out in the far Northwest suburbs and dragged my three kids with (their first plane flight, too). They each were given four $2 win tickets (I guess I kept one of the longshots). My middle stepdaughter was recipient of the $13.80 returned by Illinois-bred The Pizza Man. On a dad/daughter visit to the TDN's Red Bank offices, Maddie 'drew' The Pizza Man on a dry erase board. It still hangs proudly on the fridge a half-dozen years later.

As it was for fans to say goodbye to places like Garden State Park and Bay Meadows, and Suffolk Downs and Atlantic City and Hollywood Park, it was not easy walking out of the paddock for the last time after Saturday's Million (as much respect as I have for Mr. Duchossois, I can't, just can't).

1998 Breeders' Cup Turf winner Buck's Boy | Horsephotos

I will not forget the countless winter Saturdays and Sundays spent upstairs at the Trackside OTB, a place I left a successful Derby future wager on a horse named Monarchos. The place where a vocal contingent of Jamaicans loved to cheer on horses like Jack's Big Mac (pronounced Jacques-a-big-mock).

There was that time standing in front of bank of TVs (I think this pre-dated full-card simulcasting) getting ready to watch the 1996 GII Suburban H. Next thing I know, a bespectacled older gentleman steps over in my direction and encourages me to 'bet Wekiva (Springs), big.' The push came from long-time Chicago Sun-Times turf writer Dave Feldman.

I will always remember scooting over to the track from home or zipping up Route 53 after cutting out of work early when you could get in for free after the seventh to see the likes of Jeremy Jet and Fritz Barthold and Harham's Sizzler and Gee Can He Dance and The Vid.  Little Bro Lantis, Mr. Springfield, Downtown Clown, Katie Be Fast, Hunk of Class. Crown's Way horses like Kuma, Major Dandy, You Dancing Devil and Soccory. Asiel Stable runners like Bonita Meadow, trained by the legendary Richard Hazelton, the familiar green-and-yellow colors of top Illinois breeders Team Block. And all those Noel Hickey-trained Irish Acres runners, like Classic Fit and Buck's Nephew and Classic Fit and Thesunshinesbright. Maybe even a Buck's Boy sighting.

Those were good times. Shame there won't be more.

All good things must come to an end, or so they say.

Farewell, Arlington. I sure am going to miss you.

The post A Chicagoan’s Premature Goodbye To Arlington appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“'Quit? Hell, no!' 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,” wrote McGrath.

Yet here the track stands, on the precipice of destruction once again, this time from the flames of capitalism, according to McGrath. McGrath looks back on the story of former owner Richard L. Duchossois' grit in the face of adversity during his service in World War II, and Duchossois' long-held belief that placing the customer first was the best strategy in business.

“Must we quit, really? Can we really let a wrecking ball pulverize the phoenix that rose from the flames?” McGrath concludes. “One thing is for sure. If we do, then the pain must animate and invigorate the defense of our heritage against further corrosion.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

The post McGrath: From The Ashes Of Arlington Comes A Lesson For Racing, If The Sport Is Willing To Learn appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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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.

The post This Side Up: A Million Memories, From Heaven to Hell appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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As president and chief executive officer of Arlington Park, the late Joe Joyce conceived of and brought to fruition a race that would be called the Arlington Million, an event aimed at drawing the best horses to race over the renowned Arlington turf course not just those based domestically, but also from Europe. A race that would attract not only the best equine athletes, but also the most gifted jockeys and the most successful trainers.

“The concept of having a million-dollar race and making it international, that germinated and it was done in a short period of time,” Arlington's Richard L. Duchossois told ESPN's Thoroughbred Classics program. “Joe Joyce traveled around the world, Nick Clarke from the International Racing Bureau, everyone combined their thoughts and ideas and it became an instant success and immediately put Arlington back on the map.”

On Aug. 30, 1981, the dream became a reality. The inaugural Million drew the sort of field its creators could only have dreamt about. Representing the United States was 6-year-old John Henry from the California barn of Ron McAnally, who had won the first of his five divisional Eclipse Awards as this country's top grass horse with four Grade I victories in 1980. The former claimer had picked up in 1981 where he left off the previous season, winning his first four starts, including the GI Santa Anita H. on the dirt and the GI San Luis Rey S. and GI Hollywood Invitational H. on the grass. He was the pin-up horse that could help put the Million on the map, the one the organizers would have wanted most. Bill Shoemaker, who'd ridden him only once prior–a victory in that year's GIII Sword Dancer S., then run at Belmont Park–was in for the ride.

The domestic challenge also included the Rokeby Stable-owned Virginia-bred Key to Content, who earned his way into the Million courtesy of a narrow defeat of Canada's Ben Fab in that year's GI United Nations S. at Atlantic City Racecourse. George Martens had the riding assignment for MacK Miller. Leslie Combs' Rossi Gold was the local hero, having won the GII Stars and Stripes H. and Swoon's Son H. prior to the Million, for which he was the 19-5 second choice in the wagering with Pat Day at the controls.

Four horses were lured from Europe for the Million, the best-backed of which was French-based Argument (Fr), that country's reigning champion 3-year-old, whose first trip to the States yielded a narrow victory in the 1980 GI Washington D.C. International S. at Laurel with Lester Piggott up. Winner of the 1981 G2 Prix d'Harcourt and G1 Prix Ganay, Argument was a 7-1 chance with Angel Cordero, Jr. in the irons.

Piggott had the call in the Million atop 3-year-old filly Madam Gay, one of three females in the field, who had won the 1981 G1 Prix de Diane ahead of a runner-up effort behind Shergar in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. at Ascot.

In addition to the world-class riders already mentioned, the 1981 Million also featured jockeys named Delahoussaye, Samyn, Brumfield, Toro, Pincay Jr., Cauthen and Hawley. The stars had come to play, as hoped. And, as it turns out, the stars were aligned for a truly memorable two minutes and change of theater.

WATCH: John Henry noses out The Bart in Arlington Million I

A History-Making Day…

Broadcast by NBC to a worldwide audience in 27 countries, the Million was run on turf heavily affected by week-long rains. McAnally expressed some concern about the underfoot conditions, but John Sullivan, the trainer of 40-1 The Bart liked the way his charge had galloped over the track in the days leading up to the race.

Legendary track announcer Phil Georgeff exclaimed, “The flag is up,” as was his custom, and the inaugural Million field was sent on their way. Key to Content was kicked straight into the lead by Martens, but Eddie Delahoussaye asked The Bart to keep close to that one early and the duo had things mostly to themselves over the soggy going through a half-mile in :50 1/5. Shoemaker had John Henry positioned in about eighth spot with some cover as they turned up the backstretch. By the time they had reached the midway point, John Henry had found his way down to the inside as The Bart continued to hound Key to Content from the outside. Delahoussaye could wait no more and allowed The Bart to claim the pacesetter with a little more than 2 1/2 furlongs from home and set sail for the wire.

With Georgeff's trademark, “Here they come spinning out of the turn!” ringing through the grandstand, John Henry was finding his best stride and came out and around Madam Gay at the three-sixteenths pole with every chance if good enough. The Bart carried a clear advantage into the final eighth of a mile, boxed on gamely and looked to have the race won to the naked eye as John Henry came with one desperate final lunge. Georgeff was unwilling to call a winner, but NBC rolled the dice, declaring that The Bart had gotten the better of the photo. The picture told a different story and the Arlington Million was off to a flying start.

The 'Against All Odds' statue overlooking the Arlington paddock | Coady

“Right when we got about six jumps before the wire, I could see it was John Henry,” Delahoussaye told Thoroughbred Classics. “I looked out the corner of my eye, I knew who it was. I had a feeling if any horse was going to beat him, it was going to be him. I was right, unfortunately.”

For his part, Shoemaker wasn't convinced John Henry had gotten the better of the bob.

“Eddie was galloping out, I was trying to catch up with him, I was going to try to save $20,000 [of the purse money],” 'The Shoe' told Thoroughbred Classics. “I couldn't catch him.”

Shoemaker told the Associated Press after the win: “This is the greatest race I've ever ridden in. He's a great horse and this was a great field.” The finish of the inaugural Million is memorialized in the 'Against All Odds' statue that overlooks the Arlington paddock.

John Henry was upset in the 1983 Million by Tolomeo (Ire), but became the only two-time winner of the race with a more decisive victory in 1984.

The name has changed. The purse is now six figures, not seven. It figures to be the final renewal, sadly, at least at Arlington. But the memories of those 10 furlongs on that final Sunday of August now 40 years in the rear view will never be torn down.

The post Original Seven-Figure Race Exceeded Expectations appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Arlington will host 68 live race days, with opening weekend featuring the Kentucky Oaks (April 30, 2021) and the Kentucky Derby (May 1, 2021), and will conclude on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021.

Hawthorne will host 50 live race dates, from March 6 through April 25 and from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.

Arlington International Racecourse President, Tony Petrillo, is enthusiastic about continuing Arlington's traditions in 2021.

“This will be our 94th year of operation and Arlington remains committed to fans, guests, bettors, horsemen/horsewomen, and the community,” Petrillo said. “We look forward to showcasing the renowned Arlington Experience in 2021, featuring our beautiful facility and providing race fans with the opportunity to wager on quality races along with a slate of graded stakes races.”

The Arlington meet will host many of the graded stakes races that were placed on hiatus in 2020 and will feature a festival of stakes races for Illinois horses, featuring the Bruce D. Stakes, Beverly D. Stakes, and the newly renamed Arlington Million: “Mister D. Stakes,” in honor of Richard Duchossois, who will be 100 years old next year.

Racing for the 2020 season continues Thursday through Saturday now until Sept. 26.

More specific race date information is available below:

ARLINGTON PARK – 68 Thoroughbred race programs and 220 total host programs.

• January 3 through March 5 – dark host time. No live racing.
• April 26 through May 31, racing 2 days per week on Fridays and Saturdays. Live racing begins on April 30. Dark April 26 through April 29 and May 7, racing on May 9.
• June 1 through June 30, racing 3 days per week on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Racing on June 20.
• July 1 through August 14, racing 4 days per week on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Dark July 1.
• August 15 through August 31, racing 4 days per week on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Dark August 4 and 11, racing on August 1 and 8.
• September 1 through September 30, racing 3 days per week on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Dark September 2, 3 and 26 through 30, racing on September 5.

HAWTHORNE RACE COURSE – 50 Thoroughbred race programs and 145 total host programs.

• January 1 and 2 – dark host time. No live racing.
• March 6 through April 25, racing 2 days per week on Saturdays and Sundays.
• October 1 through November 30, racing 3 days per week on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
• December 1 through December 31, racing 2 days per week on Saturdays and Sundays. Dark December 25

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