A million dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to, even if the distance remains the same, a mile and a quarter on turf.
And folks don’t come from as far away as they once would to get it, or bring as many horses. Gone is the lord they named all the derbies after, and so the days when Middle East sheiks hand-held their own livestock, and when Wayne Gretzky was the prominent Canadian.
These days, as Sunday at Arlington International Racecourse, when they call the horses to the post, there’s a Wayne here and a Jean-Pierre there, close but no Cigar, not that there will be any more of those, and no John Henry, the horse that made the Million.
What was once a unique international racing celebration is now just another local spin on the carousel, more an indication of what ails horse racing than of the perfectly splendid Arlington.
The best turf race in America leans now not on pedigree but on filigree.
“Because it’s the showcase event at Arlington, in a very lovely setting, the hospitality, the hype, the buildup, that makes it an event,” said Wayne Lukas.
Lukas, not coincidentally, happens to be the winning trainer of, to put it in Roman numerals, Million XVII with a horse named Marlin. He would not be expected to disparage the place before the check clears.
“There are other million-dollar races and they’re all great, but this has something special,” Lukas said. “If you are training turf horses, one of the races you really want to win is this one.”
Using Lukas’ count, then, only eight others are training turf horses since the starting field was nine, then reduced to eight when one of the international entries, the one from Canada, scratched before post time.
Another animal, long shot Percutant, tossed his jockey before the race, as if to indicate that neither he nor his rider really belonged here, though Percutant did manage to finish third behind Marlin and Sandpit, thoughtfully including his rider with him.
The indication of where the Million now rests in the post-Triple Crown hierarchy, among the dominating Breeders’ Cup, the Travers (just run Saturday, like putting the Masters and Wimbledon back to back), the assorted Dubai invites and Arc d’Triomphes, whatever they call the stuff in Japan, the indication of the present status of the Million is that the jockey and trainer and owner of the winner are all more consequential than the horse.
Gary Stevens, winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby and the Preakness upon Silver Charm, and Lukas, a bulk winner of all of racing’s big prizes from way back, had to hurry to catch separate planes out of town. Luckily O’Hare is not too far and likely they could have done what they did between planes anyhow.
The owner, Michael Tabor, a former bookmaker in London, won the Kentucky Derby a few years ago with a horse named Thunder Gulch.
“To win the Arlington Million is great,” Tabor said, “but you win one, you’d like to win again.”
The horse, Marlin, won backing up, wire-to-wire, looking like O.J. Simpson’s white Bronco, or in the this case, a bay bronco. Had Marlin gone any slower, he would have been checked for moss.
“Every time they threw up the (slow) fractions, I got more and more confident,” Lukas said. “At three-quarters I said, `Catch us if you can.’ “
No one bothered. The rest of the field seemed to think there was no passing on the right in Illinois and let Marlin get to the top of the stretch with, as Stevens put it, “his dancing shoes on.”
“They were walking, we were walking,” said Pat Day, who was atop former Million winner Awad. “You’re darned if you do, darned if you don’t.”
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“You don’t expect a trip like that for a million-dollar purse,” said Stevens.
A million may not be what it was, but no one offered to give any of it back.