BIENAMADO HEADS A DOZEN IN SATURDAY'S ARLINGTON MILLION

Toffan, McCaffery and Sangster's Bienamado, the top-rated grass horse in the latest NTRA Thoroughbred Poll, drew post ten and was installed as the 2-1 favorite for the $1 million Arlington Million to be run at a mile and one quarter over the turf Saturday at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Ill.

As usual, the Million has drawn a star-studded field of horses from all over the globe. This year's group of 12 includes four European-based horses and one from Canada. Set at 10-1 in the morning line odds, Silvano is expected to pose the biggest European threat to Bienamado.

The complete Arlington Million field from the rail out is: Hap (jockey: Jerry Bailey, morning line odds: 5-1), Silvano (Andreas Suborics, 10-1), Redattore (Alex Solis, 8-1), Takarian (Corey Nakatani, 30-1), Muakaad (Pat Smullen, 15-1), White Heart (Gary Stevens, 6-1), Senure (Robbie Davis, 6-1), Compton Bolter (Michael Fenton, 30-1), Quiet Resolve (Todd Kabel, 15-1), Bienamado (Chris McCarron, 2-1), Make No Mistake (Robby Albarado, 12-1) and Caitano (Kent Desormeaux, 30-1).

The Arlington Million, along with another top race on the Saturday Arlington Park card, the $700,000 Beverly D. Stakes, can be seen on "The Road to the World Thoroughbred Championships" on ESPN from 4:00-5:00 p.m. (ET) on Saturday.

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR SIGNS ACCOUNT WAGERING BILL

Governor Gray Davis of California has signed into law legislation permitting account wagering on horseracing via the telephone and Internet starting next year. California joins 10 other states that permit account wagering on horseracing. Supporters of the legislation believe that the new law could generate additional annual wagering of $20 million within California.

A little less than one year ago, Gov. Davis vetoed similar legislation, saying that he did not wish to lay the groundwork for the expansion of gambling. But after signing the new legislation, Gray said that he was influenced by the amendment late last year of the federal Interstate Horseracing Act which the California Attorney General believed legitimized "telephone and Internet off-track wagering in states where it is either specifically authorized or not forbidden." Thus, the new legislation did not expand or open up a new form of gambling.

Gov. Davis was also swayed by efforts made to keep minors from wagering illegally. "This bill includes safeguards specifically designed to prohibit the use of advance deposit wagering accounts by minors and other unauthorized persons, such as requiring any payments be made by check only to the account holder," he said.

In December 2000, a coalition of U.S. Congressmen joined horseracing interests including the American Horse Council and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association in supporting the Interstate Horseracing Act clarification on Capitol Hill.

RACING ON THE AIR (all times Eastern)

August 16 Thoroughbred Classics presented by the NTRA, Arlington Million, 7:00-7:30 a.m., ESPN Classic

August 17 Thoroughbred Classics presented by the NTRA, Arlington Million, 9:30-10:00 a.m., ESPN Classic

August 17 Thoroughbred Classics presented by the NTRA, Arlington Million, 5:30-6:00 p.m., ESPN Classic

August 18 Racehorse Digest, 5:30-6:00 a.m., ESPN

August 18 Road to the World Thoroughbred Championships, Arlington Million and Beverly D. Stakes (Arlington Park), 4:00-5:00 p.m., ESPN

August 19 AQHA 2Day at the Races: Trials--All American Futurity (Ruidoso Downs--taped from Aug. 17); Trials--All American Derby (Ruidoso Downs-taped from Aug. 16); 1:00 a.m.-1:30 a.m., ESPN2

August 19 Road to the World Thoroughbred Championships, Pacific Classic (Del Mar), 5:00-6:00 p.m., ESPN

August 22 Racehorse Digest, 1:00-1:30 p.m., ESPN

August 22 Thoroughbred Classics presented by the NTRA, Travers Stakes, 6:30-7:00 p.m., ESPN Classic

August 23 Thoroughbred Classics presented by the NTRA, Travers Stakes, 7:00-7:30 a.m., ESPN Classic

August 24 Thoroughbred Classics presented by the NTRA, Travers Stakes, 9:30-10:00 a.m., ESPN Classic

August 24 The Road to the World Thoroughbred Championships, Personal Ensign Handicap (Saratoga), 4:00-5:00 p.m., ESPN2

August 24 Thoroughbred Classics presented by the NTRA, Travers Stakes, 5:30-6:00 p.m., ESPN Classic

August 25 Racehorse Digest, 5:30-6:00 a.m., ESPN

August 25 The Road to the World Thoroughbred Championships, Travers Stakes and King's Bishop Stakes (Saratoga), 4:30-6:00 p.m., ESPN

August 26 The Road to the World Thoroughbred Championships, Ballerina Handicap (Saratoga), 5:00-6:00 p.m., ESPN

August 29 Racehorse Digest, 1:00-1:30 p.m., ESPN

RACING TO HISTORY

Aug. 16, 1930: Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox was beaten by 100-1 shot Jim Dandy in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Racecourse.

Aug. 16, 1946: Rockingham Park began to film its races from the vantage of a helicopter, using the equipment as a "mechanical patrol judge."

Aug. 16, 1954: Native Dancer concluded his 22-race career with a victory in the Oneonta Handicap, a non-betting exhibition race at Saratoga Racecourse that he won by nine lengths while carrying 137 pounds. Although he raced only three times in 1954, Native Dancer was subsequently voted Horse of the Year, partly because he had been denied that honor in the previous year, despite having won nine of 10 races, all of them stakes. Tom Fool, 1953 Horse of the Year, had had a perfect 10-for-10 record.

Aug. 16, 1965: John Longden rode his 6,000th winner, riding Prince Scorpion to victory while at Exhibition Park.

Aug. 16, 1972: Secretariat won his first stakes race, the Sanford Stakes, at Saratoga Racecourse. The time for the six-furlong race was 1:10, the fastest time for the distance at Saratoga that year.

Aug. 16, 1976: John Campo swept the top three spots in the Adirondack Stakes with his trainees Harvest Girl, Bonnie Empress and Drama Critic.

Aug. 17, 1918: Samuel D. Riddle purchased the yearling Man o' War for $5,000 in a sale of August Belmont II's bloodstock at Saratoga.

Aug. 17, 1977: Jockey Steve Cauthen rode Affirmed for the first time, winning the Sanford Stakes at Saratoga Racecourse by 2 3/4 lengths.

Aug. 17, 2000: Zippy Chippy, loser of all 86 of his lifetime races, was defeated again--this time by minor-league baseball player Jose Herrera in a 40-yard dash. The race, called the "2000 Red Wings Derby," was held prior to a home game of the International League's Rochester Red Wings.

Aug. 18, 1923: The Jockey Club announced that the owner of Papyrus, winner of the Epsom Derby, had accepted an invitation to compete in an international match race in the U.S., against an American horse. Zev, winner of the 1923 Kentucky Derby, was chosen to represent the U.S. against Papyrus in the race, scheduled for October.

Aug. 18, 1961: Trainer Dale Baird saddled his first winner, New York, at Ellis Park.

Aug. 19, 1978: In the conclusion of their 10-race rivalry, Alydar scored his third "success" against Affirmed in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Racecourse, when his adversary was disqualified from first place.

Aug. 19, 1990: Jockey Earlie Fires became the eleventh rider in Thoroughbred racing history to win 5,000 victories when he guided Tex's Zing to victory in the ninth race at Arlington International Racecourse. He joined history-making jockeys Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay Jr., Angel Cordero Jr., John Longden, Jorge Velasquez, Larry Snyder, Sandy Hawley, Dave Gall, Carl Gambardella and Chris McCarron.

Aug. 20, 1966: Ogden Phipps' Buckpasser, ridden by Braulio Baeza, became racing's first three-year-old millionaire after he won the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Racecourse.

Aug. 20, 2000: Ron Ardoin became the 16th jockey in North America to win 5,000 races when he guided Heart of an Angel to a three-length victory in the seventh race at Louisiana Downs.

Aug. 22, 1972: In preparation for his next start, the Aug. 26 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Racecourse, Secretariat worked a half-mile in :46 2/5.

Aug. 22, 1998: Hall of Fame trainer Woodford Cefis "Woody" Stephens died in Miami Lakes, Fla. He was 84.

Aug. 23, 1956: Carl Gambardella had his first career winner, aboard Rollin Warm, at Hagerstown.

Aug. 23, 1974: Frank Whiteley-trained Ruffian won the Spinaway Stakes by 13 lengths at Saratoga Racecourse, ending her two-year-old season with a 5-for-5 record. Ruffian was subsequently voted champion juvenile filly of 1974.

Aug. 24, 1968: Carrying 134 pounds, Dr. Fager set the then-world record for a mile in the Washington Park Handicap at Arlington Park. The time for his 10-length victory was 1:32 1/5. The previous record was 1:32 3/5, set by three-year-old Buckpasser on June 25, 1966 at Arlington Park.

Aug. 24, 1989: Jockey Larry Snyder won his 6,000th career race, aboard a filly named Speedski, in the first race at Louisiana Downs. Snyder was the sixth rider in history to accomplish that feat.

Aug. 25, 1987: Julie Krone won her 1,000th career victory, aboard Tiger Higgins in the second race at Monmouth Park.

Aug. 25, 1997: Jockey Pat Day gained his 7,000th career victory aboard Bay Harbor in the second race at Saratoga Racecourse. Day became the fifth rider to achieve the 7,000-win plateau.

Aug. 26, 1953: A syndicate headed by Howard E. Booker of San Francisco, unveiled a proposal for an off-track betting system in New York. Booker's group, planning to use Western Union to compile off-track bets, sought to establish 139 betting offices, to be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Aug. 26, 1972: Secretariat won the Hopeful Stakes by five lengths at Saratoga Racecourse, for his second stakes win in as many tries.

Aug. 27, 1953: The Thoroughbred Racing Associations denounced a plan for off-track betting in New York. John A. Morris, the TRA president, declared: "Although it could mean increased profits for the race tracks, off-course betting would inevitably subordinate racing and bring on an adverse public reaction which would kill a traditionally great sport and an economically significant industry."

Aug. 28, 1988: A winning ride aboard Precisionist in the Cabrillo Handicap at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club made Chris McCarron the fifth jockey to surpass $100 million in career earnings.

Aug. 29, 1987: Charlie Whittingham became the first trainer to surpass 500 stakes wins when he sent Ferdinand to victory in the Cabrillo Handicap at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

Aug. 29, 1993: Laffit Pincay Jr., 46, became the second rider in North American racing history to ride 8,000 winners when he rode El Toreo to victory in the seventh race at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Bill Shoemaker was the first to hit 8,000, a feat he accomplished in 1981 at age 49.

WEEKEND STAKES RACES (unrestricted stakes worth $75,000 and up)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18
Arlington Million, 3&up, $1,000,000, Grade I, 1¼ M (T), Arlington Park
Alabama Stakes, 3yo fillies, $750,000, Grade I, 1¼ M, Saratoga
Beverly D. Stakes, 3&up (F&M), $700,000, Grade I, 1 3/16 M (T), Arlington Park
Secretariat Stakes, 3yo, $400,000, Grade I, 1¼ M (T), Arlington Park
Del Mar Oaks, 3yo fillies, $300,000, Grade I, 1 1/8 M (T), Del Mar
Sapling Stakes, 2yo, $150,000, Grade III, 6F, Monmouth Park
Ellis Park Debutante, 2yo fillies, $100,000, 7F, Ellis Park
Ellis Park Juvenile, 2yo, $100,000, 7F, Ellis Park
Larry Riviello President's Cup, 3yo, $100,000, 1 M, Philadelphia Park
Washington Breeders' Cup Oaks, 3yo fillies, $100,000, 1 1/8 M, Emerald Downs
Prairie Meadows Derby, 3yo, $75,000, 1 1/8 M, Prairie Meadows
Evangeline Mile Handicap, 3&up, $75,000, 1 M, Evangeline Downs

SUNDAY, AUGUST 19
Pacific Classic, 3&up, $1,000,000, Grade I, 1¼ M, Del Mar
Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap, 3&up, $300,000, Grade II, 1¼ M, Saratoga
Longacres Mile Handicap, 3&up, $250,000, Grade III, 1 M, Emerald Downs
Rancho Bernardo Handicap, 3&up (F&M), $150,000, Grade III, 6½ F, Del Mar
New Castle Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $100,000, 1 1/8 M (T), Delaware Park
Emerald Breeders' Cup Distaff, 3&up (F&M), $100,000, 1 M, Emerald Downs

MONDAY, AUGUST 20
Lake Placid Handicap, 3yo fillies, $150,000, Grade II, 1 1/8 M (T), Saratoga