Contact: David Zenner (847) 385-7535
Dzenner@arlingtonpark.com

DISCREET HERO LIKELY CHOICE IN ROUND TABLE STAKES

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill (July 26, 2001) -- B. Wayne Hughes' Discreet Hero, winner of the $50,000 Alydar Stakes July 8, looks for his second straight local score and third consecutive victory overall and should rule the choice when he heads a field of six 3-year-olds in the $125,000 Round Table Stakes Saturday at Arlington Park.

The Grade III Round Table, a mile and an eighth dirt race, will share the spotlight with the Grade III $250,000 Arlington Handicap and the Grade III $150,000 Modesty Handicap as part of the track's inaugural Million Preview Day program.

A son of Honour and Glory, Discreet Hero rallied from as much as 10 lengths off the lead to prevail by 4½ lengths in the one-mile Alydar Stakes here earlier this month. Prior to the Alydar, he rallied from off the pace to capture a first level allowance race at Churchill Downs June 16. Shane Laviolette has a return call aboard the Albert Stall Jr.-trained colt.

Lining up against the favorite will be: Ray H. Cottrell's Gift of the Eagle, Rene Douglas; Morton Fink's Horrible Evening, Mark Guidry; Richard F. Rudolph's San Pedro, Ray Sibille; Theresa McArthur's Western Pride, Eduardo Perez; and George Maier's X Country, Jose Martinez Jr.

Of these, San Pedro and Western Pride may have a slight advantage by virtue of victories over the oval. The former, a Leo Castelli colt, captured a second-level allowance dash by 3½ lengths July 7, while the latter, by Way West, was a wire-to-wire victor around two turns in a third-level allowance race July 15.

Though winless this year, Gift of the Eagle has been competitive in stakes company and finished third in the $500,000 Lone Star Derby in April.

Horrible Evening, an allowance winner at Churchill in May, ran third in a $100,000 overnight handicap at the Twin Spires oval June 16 while X Country rallied for a second-level allowance tally in Louisville July 1.

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