The feature race on Saturday at Arlington Park is the Grade 1, $1-million Arlington Million for three-years-old and upward going ten furlongs on the turf course. The Arlington Million is the signature race of the meet and is part of a card that includes the Grade 1 Beverly D and Grade 1 Secretariat ufabet.
The race drew a field of ten, but only four are expected to take the majority of the betting.
First up is Tajaaweed, who won the local prep race for the Million, the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap. Tajaweed was a decent price on the morning line, but it seemed he was the top choice of all the handicappers. He did not disappoint winning the race by a comfortable margin even with a very low speed figure.
The next three horses are all very familiar with each other as they exit the Grade 1 Man O’War at Belmont Park. Cape Blanco was about to get the better of Gio Ponti and Mission Approved that day and is looking for his fourth Grade 1 victory.
Cape Blanco, under Euro-jockey Jamie Spencer, sat just off Mission Approved in the Man O’War and stormed home down the stretch under heavy urging. It was the first win since September 2010 for the son of Galileo and trainer Aidan O’Brien is hoping that run will return him to his two and three-year-old campaigns.
Mission Approved was coming off a shocking win in the Manhattan horse race when he ran in the Man O’War, but could not duplicate his front-running score. The Arlington Million is the same distance as the Manhattan, which will be to his benefit.
Gio Ponti has had a great career and is looking to become a two-time winner of the Million horse race. He fell a half length short last year after Debussy put in an electrifying late run up the rail to catch the multiple Grade 1 winner. Gio Ponti is dangerous on his best, but perhaps those days are behind him.
Two interesting horses in the field are the other two Euro-shippers. Zack Hall comes in from France for trainer Mikel Delzangles and Wigmore Hall ships in from Asia for trainer Michael Bell. This will be Zack Hall’s first start in the U.S., but Wigmore Hall finished second to Paddy O’Prado in the Secretariat at Arlington last year.
Post time for the Million 6:15 ET and is the last leg of the all-stakes pick-4, which starts with the Hatoof at 4:19 ET and includes the Beverly D and Secretariat.