Drawing a Million

I just attended my first post position draw for Arlington Million Day. No bells and whistles this year, just about 30 of us in the racing office, as the fields for the three biggest races in Chicago racing were quickly drawn. The whole event took barely more time than it will take to run all three races on Saturday. Without further adieu, here are the fields, with some early thoughts: The Secretariat Stakes (Grade 1) $400,000 Guaranteed 1 Paddy O’Prado K. Desormeaux 1-1 2 Mister Marti Gras E. Perez 10-1 3 Cherokee Lord J. Felix 30-1 4 Wigmore Hall (IRE) J. Spencer 5-1 5 Dean’s Kitten J. Leparoux 8-1 6 Two Notch Road M. Baze 12-1 7 Workin For Hops F. Torres 5-2 I have long heralded Paddy O’Prado as the heir apparent to America’s turf throne, but I fully expect him to have his hands full with the local horse, Workin For Hops. These are two top horses, and are certainly the best sophomore turfers east of the Mississippi. It should be an excellent matchup between the two, and I am hard pressed to find anyone that might upset their 1-2 finish in the Secretariat. Mister Marti Gras might be the horse to complete my trifecta. The Beverly D. (Grade 1) $750,000 Guaranteed 1 Pachattack K. Fallon 8-1 2 Hot Cha Cha J. Graham 6-1 3 Acoma J. Castanon 8-1 4 Gypsy’s Warning (SAF) W. Buick 10-1 5 Rainbow View J. Leparoux 4-1 6 Éclair De Lune J. Alvarado 5-1 7 Biased G. Benoist 20-1 8 Romacaca M. Baze 20-1 9 Treat Gently K. Desormeaux 9-2 10 Ave R. Dominguez 5-1 Talk about a wide-open affair, the 2010 Beverly D. looks like a race where just about anyone can win. The favorites, whomever that may turn out to be, are beatable, and the longshots look live. It reminds me of the Kentucky Derby, where the likely favorite should not be much lower than 5-1. Whoever I decide on as my top choice, I have a lot of handicapping still to do, should be a mare with some solid odds. Good luck on this one folks. The Arlington Million XXVIII (Grade 1) $1,00,000 Guaranteed 1 Marsh Side C. Nakatani 12-1 2 Debussy (IRE) W. Buick 12-1 3 General Quarters J. Graham 8-1 4 Just As Well J. Leparoux 5-1 5 Quite A Handful T. Riggs 30-1 6 Gio Ponti R. Dominguez 7-5 7 Rahystrada I. Karlsson 10-1 8 Tajaweed M. Baze 15-1 9 Tazeez R. Hills 6-1 10 Summit Surge K. Fallon 10-1 All eyes, including mine, will be on defending champion Gio Ponti, who will be favored to become the first ever back-to-back winner of the Million. Consistently among America’s best on the grass in each of his four seasons of racing, it is hard not to like the Christophe Clement trained horse. I think his main challenge this year will come from the Euros, notably Tazeez and Summit Surge, who both sport solid form coming in. My early longshot play is Tajaweed who had a tough trip in last month’s Arlington Handicap.