Pat Day is going into Sunday’s International Festival of Racing at Arlington three winners away from becoming the fifth jockey in North American history to ride 7,000 winners.
Day has five mounts Sunday. In addition to riding Awad in the Arlington Million and Rob’n Gin in the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes, he will ride Bet On Sunshine in the $150,000-added Arlington Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Don’t Hit On Me in the $30,000-added Four Winds Stakes and Found Code in an Illinois allowance race.
Three a charm? Sandpit, beaten favorite the last two Millions, is projected as the 5-2 favorite in Sunday’s race. Awad, the winner in 1995 and runner-up last year, is pegged as the 3-1 second choice. Awad also won the 1993 Secretariat, making him the only horse to win both that race and the Million.
The foreign intrigue in the Million is supplied by Allied Forces of Great Britain and Chief Bearhart, last year’s Canadian champion grass horse.
Triple crown: A victory in the $400,000 Secretariat by Honor Glide would make him the first winner of Arlington’s Mid-America Triple series for 3-year-olds since Buckpasser in 1966. His earlier conquests came in the Arlington Classic and PrimeCo American Derby.
Weight watching: The Irish filly Dance Design may feel very light on her feet when she shoulders her 123-pound assignment in the $500,000 Beverly D for fillies and mares. When Dance Design won the 1 1/4-mile Pretty Polly at the Curragh on June 28, she carried 140 pounds, an awesome burden by American standards.
Pair of aces: Among the jockeys competing Sunday, Gary Stevens and Robbie Davis are two of a kind.
They are the only two to have won all three of the Festival’s major races–the Arlington Million, Beverly D and Secretariat.
Stevens won the 1991 Million with Golden Pheasant, the 1991 Beverly D with Fire the Groom and the 1994 Secretariat with Vaudeville.
Davis took last year’s Million with Mecke, the 1990 Beverly D with Reluctant Guest and the 1992 Secretariat with Ghazi.
Sunday will see Stevens aboard Marlin and Davis on Ops Smile in the Million; Stevens riding Donna Viola in the Beverly D; and Davis on Manila Magic in the Secretariat.
Timetable: Sunday’s program will begin at 12:01 p.m., an hour earlier than Arlington’s usual starting time. The Beverly D is the seventh race, the Million is the ninth and the Secretariat is the 11th on the 12-race card. ESPN will telecast the Beverly D and Million during a 90-minute show that begins at 3 p.m. Post times are 3:11 for the Beverly D and 4:18 for the Million.
Festive wagers: The $150,000-added Arlington Breeders’ Cup Sprint will be the opening leg of the Festival Four. Winning the bet entails picking the winners of the Sprint, Beverly D, Million and Secretariat.
Another gimmick bet is the International Match Rival, pitting America’s leading jockey, Jerry Bailey, against English champion Frankie Dettori. The bet is based on the outcome of the Beverly D, Million and Secretariat. Under the format, it’s unnecessary for a jockey to win the race. Instead, the winner is defined as the jockey whose horse finishes in front of the other rider’s mount.
The matchups and morning-line odds of the horses: in the Beverly D, Detorri and Always Loyal of France (7-2) versus Bailey and Memories of Silver of the U.S. (8-1); in the Million, Dettori and Allied Forces of England (8-1) versus Bailey and Geri of the U.S. (6-1); and in the Secretariat, Detorri and P.T. Indy of the U.S. (9-2) versus Bailey and Glok of the U.S. (15-1)
Family values: P.T. Indy is a son of 1990 Beverly D winner Reluctant Guest. His sire is A.P., who won the 1992 Belmont and Breeders’ Cup Classic en route to becoming North America’s 1992 Horse of the Year.
Fellow Secretariat contestant Manila Magic is a son of 1987 Million winner Manila and Million contestant Percutant is trying to follow in the footsteps of his father, Perrault, who won the Million in 1982.
