V E N U E = 8/14 @ Arlington

[RUFFIAN]

YA CAN’T PLEASE ALL THE PEEPS ALL THE TIME
SOMETIMES YA GOTTA GO WITH YER HEART 💜

SAY SO LONG TO SARATOGA
AS ARLINGTON IT SHALL BE
8 STAKES & 3 GRADE #1
THE BEST PLACE OF ALL TO ME!

A “Bonus” Just For Me Alone
A Stakes Named For My ALL TIME LOVE 💗
BLACK TIE AFFAIR
{ HOTY 1991 }

[DonGuido]

Good choice, we all need a break from The Spa once in awhile. Nice win!!!

[JolyB]

A change of pace is always worthwhile. Besides, this might be our final trip to Arlington - I don't think that they have even applied for a racing license for next year. Racing in Illinois is very different than it once was.

There was a time when this was Arlington Million weekend, and it was a very big deal. But the Million has been renamed the Mr. D Stakes and the purse reduced to $600,000. The Beverly D. keeps its name but has the purse reduced from $600,000 to $400,000. What used to be the Secretariat Stakes is now the Bruce D. Stakes and its purse has been reduced from $500,000 to $300,000. It is possible that the horsemen got tired of having the lion's share of the purse money taken away by out of state [or out of country] runners who shipped in for the race. All of the purses in Illinois races have diminished greatly. Four of the stakes races are restricted to Ill Breds and only carry a purse of $75,000. I've gotten accustomed to seeing optional claimers on the NYRA circuit with purses in excess of $100,000.

[RUFFIAN]

…. But the Million has been renamed the Mr. D Stakes
and the purse reduced to $600,000. “

WHY WAS THE ARLINGTON MILLION RENAMED ?
After all this time that’s kind of sad

It’s also sad to see this Racetrack go the way of the dinosaur

PS
I called the track to find out why they Change the name of the Arlington Million Race

He said it was to honor Mr. D
After all he has done for the track and since they are closing down

[JolyB]

The official house answer you received is kind of humorous and indeed Dick Duchossois deserves to be honored for everything he had done at Arlington Park. But there may be a simpler answer.

In 1981 Arlington offered the first thoroughbred race with a purse of $1,000,000 and so they named it the Arlington Million. The name has been slightly changed over the years [i.e. the Budwiser Arlington Million], but it always included the word "Million" due to its purse. Now that they have cut the purse from $1,000,000 to $600,000 they really couldn't continue to refer to the race as the "Million". Glad they came up with a recognition of Mr. D as the track that he created fades into the sunset.