Contact: Graham Ross
graham.ross@arlingtonpark.com

In today's notes:

• Chic Dancer Scratched from Beverly D. Saturday Morning
• Three Jockeys With Chance to Sweep Illinois’ Three Grade I Stakes
• Other Possible Festival Firsts

CHIC DANCER SCRATCHED FROM BEVERLY D. SATURDAY MORNING

S. D. Brilie Ltd. Partnership’s Chic Dancer, who won the Grade III Modesty Handicap three weeks ago to become the local hope in Saturday’s Grade I Beverly D. Stakes, was reluctantly withdrawn Saturday morning by her Arlington-based trainer Christine Janks due to coughing.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Janks Saturday morning. “When I got to the barn this morning she was coughing, so we went ahead and scoped her and found lots of infectious-looking mucous. Obviously, we’re not going to run her if she’s not at her best. Of course I’m disappointed, but what are you going to do? There’re a lot worse things that could happen.”

Janks, Arlington’s leading stakes-winning trainer this summer, had told the owners of Chic Dancer (Steve and Diana Holland) last winter she was going to try and win the Beverly D. with their homebred daughter of Joyeux Danseur, and never wavered from her vision through Friday evening.

The $750,000 Beverly D. is Arlington’s sister race to the Grade I Arlington Million, also run Saturday.

“She had coughed once or twice Thursday so we scoped her then but couldn’t find anything at that time,” Janks said. “But when I here this morning there was a chorus of coughing throughout the barn. With 2-year-olds, that’s normal, but obviously it has spread. Unfortunately, this is the third stakes we’ve had to scratch (Chic Dancer) out of in her career, and the second one this season.”

THREE JOCKEYS WITH CHANCE TO SWEEP ILLINOIS THREE GRADE I STAKES

Six years ago, retired Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey put his personal stamp on the International Festival of Racing at Arlington Park when he became the first jockey in history, and the only one, to win the Grade I Arlington Million and the Grade I Beverly D. in the same year.

Now, of course, the ultimate afternoon for a jockey during the International Festival of Racing at Arlington Park would be to sweep the Million, the $750,000 Beverly D. and the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes on Saturday afternoon.

Three jockeys will have a chance to accomplish that sweep this weekend, including John Velazquez, North America’s Eclipse Award-winning jockey the last two seasons. The Puerto Rican-born rider gets the mount on James Scatuorchio’s morning-line favorite English Channel in Arlington Million XXIV, rides Glencrest Farm LLC’s Honey Ryder in the Beverly D. – both for his primary employer Todd Pletcher, Eclipse Award-winning trainer the last two years – but he also has now been named astride Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Irving and Marjorie Cowan’s Ivan Denisovich in the Secretariat. That mount Velazquez inherited from European jockey champion Kieren Fallon, who was ruled unable to ride in Illinois earlier this week due to a suspended license in Great Britain.

Inheriting Fallon’s mount aboard Mrs. Magnier, Tabor and Mrs. Harry McCalmont’s Ace in the Arlington Million for Irish-trainer Aidan O’Brien is Garrett Gomez, who is also slated for the tack on Claiborne Farm’s Wend in the Beverly D. and Peter Vegso’s Go Between in the Secretariat. Gomez was Arlington’s jockey champion in 1997.

Edgar Prado, who rode Lael Stable’s Barbaro to victory in this spring’s Grade I Kentucky Derby, is also named aboard mounts in all the Festival’s top-tiered races. Prado is named astride J. Paul Reddam, Suarez Racing Inc. and Mark Schlesinger’s Sharp Lisa in the Beverly D., returns aboard Juddmonte Farms Inc.’s Cacique in the Arlington Million and gets the mount on Gary Tanaka’s Proudinsky in the Secretariat, final leg of Arlington’s Mid-America Triple. Proudinsky finished second by a nose in the Grade III Arlington Classic July 1 during the first leg of the Triple, but was ridden by Brice Blanc that afternoon.

OTHER POSSIBLE FESTIVAL FIRSTS

• No owner, trainer or jockey has ever won the Arlington Million in back-to-back years but Mrs. John Magnier, who owned 2005 Arlington Million winner Powerscourt, owns Ace in partnership with Michael Tabor and Mrs. Harry McCalmont.
• Trainer Aidan O’Brien, conditioner of Powerscourt, is also the conditioner of Ace, who was runner-up in last fall’s Grade I John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf at Belmont Park.
• Juddmonte Farms Inc., owner of Cacique, second choice in the morning line for Arlington Million XXIV, has had its silks pose in the winner’s circle twice – after the 2000 Million with Chester House and after the 2002 Million with Beat Hollow. Both of those horses were trained by Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, who saddles Cacique Saturday.
• Internationally-renowned trainer Patrick Biancone, who saddled Martin Schwartz’ Angara to win the 2005 Beverly D., will saddle Schwartz’ Gorella as the morning-line favorite in Saturday’s Beverly D.
• Jockey Cornelio Velasquez, named to ride Saturday’s morning-line favorite Showing Up, owned by Lael Stables, in the Secretariat, rode Brant Laue’s Gun Salute to victory in last summer’s Secretariat Stakes.

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