The concerned attendant at Arlington wanted to make sure I could see the big horse race. She asked if she should make any of the people in front of me sit down.
“Yes,” I said. “Tell that guy to take a seat.”
She moved with purpose toward the Aga Khan, who was using a pair of the world’s largest binoculars to study if the fractious loading into the starting gate of the favorite for the Arlington Million was having any effect on his own horse.
I have no doubt she would have wrestled His Highness into his chair had I not stopped her. They do try to please at Arlington, And, hey, if he had been just An Aga Khan and not The Aga Khan . . .
More than a decade and a half later, they’re still coming after Arlington’s million, chump change in sports these days, hardly worth shining up the saddle. They run seven millions in one day at the Breeders’ Cup.
In Dubai, they have one race worth $4 million, though they need that kind of bribe to get a field, and occasionally a Cigar.
So, when a 15-1 shot named Mecke comes romping down the turf toward the wire, outfinishing last year’s Million champ and this year’s favorite, the edge is not the same as it was when John Henry caught The Bart, back when the race was, rather like The Aga Khan, The Million.
“This horse just won $1 million on grass,” said trainer Manny Tortora, nevertheless impressed and nevertheless incorrect.
More Top Picks Best Hair Straighteners For Receding
The winner gets only $600,000, with which you couldn’t buy a utility infielder or a decent placekicker. Still, for two minutes’ work, the winning share is not a bad wage, even when you don’t need the money, and if you do, horse racing is the wrong game.
It is easier to be the Aga Khan, who inherited his horses from his father, Aly Khan, than, say, James Lewis Jr., a wholesale marine hardware dealer. Lewis went from being a horse racing fan in South Florida to a horse racing owner, never forgetting how to read the Racing Form. Lewis put only $100 on his own horse. To win.
“An easy call at 15-1,” said the owner of Mecke.
Not that Mecke hasn’t paid his way. A decent working-class animal, Mecke won the Super Derby in Louisiana and, at 4, has now made more than $2 million.
“He has faced some tigers all his life,” Tortora said. “We ducked nobody.”
But Mecke could not be called a tiger himself, nor does the Million get many tigers these days. It gets European afterthoughts and domestic . . . well, Meckes.
Its distinction is in the drama of the single day and on this day, the drama was good, complete with a revenge motive. Last year’s winner, Awad, and runner-up, Sandpit, were rematched, Awad trying to match John Henry’s two Million wins.
Sandpit threw his jockey at the starting gate before the race, and was hauled into place empty, as reluctant as if he had just heard someone call the dogs to dinner. Sandpit no doubt left his best at the start.
Awad, a late runner, broke last, then parked himself in front of Mecke for the first half of the race, the two of them reading the backs of foreigners before making their move together with a quarter-mile to go.
“Awad had the jump on me,” said jockey Robbie Davis. “I didn’t know if I could get through or not. But I followed him through the pack and outfinished him.”
Valanour, the Aga Khan’s horse in the Million, had a distressing journey, getting bumped on the first turn and taking out three rails on the last turn, finishing eighth.
Still, Valanour is the only Million loser who can claim to be owned by both a stepson of Rita Hayworth and a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.
Not that they pay off on that.