The 89-day meeting at Arlington ended Sunday with trainer Wayne Catalano
earning his 11th Arlington crown while Richard and Karen Papiese’s Midwest
Thoroughbreds took down their second
consecutive Arlington owner title. Apprentice jockey Emmanuel Esquivel was leading
jockey and he is believed to be the first “bug-boy” to win an Arlington riding
title since Wendell Eads in 1940.
Catalano’s 11th title was memorable as his starters earned
a single-season Arlington record $2,060,909, including 70 winners topped by
stakes scores in the Grade 3 Pucker Up Stakes with I’m Already Sexy,
the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity with Solitary Ranger and state-bred restricted stakes with Bold Kitten in the Purple Violet
and Coalport in the Black Tie Affair Handicap.
The prolific operation of the Papieses’
Midwest Thoroughbreds added a second Arlington title to the long list of
racetracks where the couple has taken home a title.
The 2012 national champions in races won with 542 victories
as well as in money earned with more than $10 million in purse earnings, Midwest
Thoroughbred starters visited the winner’s circle on 31 occasions from 113
starts. The operation outpaced 2011 leading owner William Stiritz, who had 16
victories at the track this year.
Though their horses earned a solid $699,318 in purses,
that was only good enough for second behind the Ken and Sarah Ramsey juggernaut whose starters
banked $1,456,717. That was helped along by a pair of Grade 1 tallies at the International
Festival of Racing when Admiral Kitten captured the $500,000 Secretariat and
Real Solution was awarded the victory in Arlington Million XXXI following the disqualification of The Apache.
Esquivel battled 2011 jockey champion James Graham for the
top spot most of the meet but pulled away in the final two weeks of the season
to capture the title by a count of 83-79. Graham did take the top spot in purse
money with his mounts earning $2,310,086.
For the third consecutive year, the Arlington Million was
televised nationally by WGN-America, which is available in more than 72 million
homes.
In addition, Arlington boasted an aggressive promotional
calendar in 2013 that included special days saluting Northwestern University,
the Chicago Bears, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs; fireworks on July 4
which were enjoyed by a crowd in excess of 37,000; and events such as a Food
Truck Festival, Girls Day Out, Guys Day Out, College Day and Binny’s Taste of
the Track. All of these events helped expose Arlington to a wider audience.
On the track, the Ramseys’ Real Solution was
awarded the victory in Arlington Million XXXI after original winner The Apache was determined to have caused interference in the stretch
and was disqualified. The four-year-old Kitten’s Joy colt gave both trainer Chad
Brown and jockey Alan Garcia their first Million score before a crowd of 34,222.
In the remaining International Festival headliners Dank, trained by Sir Michael Stoute and ridden by Ryan Moore, captured
the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes; Admiral Kitten, trained by
Mike Maker and ridden by Rosie Napravnik, took the Secretariat; and Irish-bred Dandino won the
second running of the American St. Leger Stakes for trainer Marco Botti
and jockey Ryan Moore.
Other impressive on-track performances included a record
third victory in the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap by
Rahystrada, who also became the race’s oldest winner as a nine-year-old; Willcox Inn, who transferred his graded stakes
winning form to Polytrack in taking the Grade 3 Washington Park
Handicap; General Election’s tally in the Grade 3; Infinite Magic in the Grade 3
American Derby; Ausus in the Grade 3 Modesty Handicap; and Dark Cove in the Grade
3 Stars and Stripes.
With a carryover pool of $759,941 heading into the last day
of the meet and triggering a mandatory payoff, more than $700,000 additional was
bet into the 10-cent JackPOT Pick 9 wager resulting in a payoff of $75,830.88 to
14 ticket holders who selected all nine winners. There was a consolation payoff
of $648.79 to ticket holders with eight of nine.
Arlington will open
its 2014 meet on May 2.
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