Arlington Park is located at IL Route 53 and Euclid Avenue in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The racecourse officially opened on October 13, 1927, a year after California businessman Harry D. “Curley” Brown and a group of Chicago investors formed the American National Jockey Club. Today, Arlington Park is synonymous with the Arlington Million, run over a mile and a quarter in August each year. Between May and September, Arlington Park stages a total of 89 days of racing, including 13 Graded Stakes races.
Course Characteristics
The main track at Arlington Park is left-handed, Polytrack oval, a mile and a furlong in circumference with a one and a half furlong home straight. The turf track, which runs inside the Polytrack, is a mile in circumference. According to the latest statistics, there appears to be a definite bias, on both Polytrack and turf, towards horses racing on the inside at Arlington Park.
Track Facts
Aside from the Arlington Million Stakes, Arlington Park is home to two more Grade 1 races, the Beverly D. Stakes and the Secretariat Stakes, run on the same day as the Arlington Million.
The Arlington Million Stakes was the world’s first $1 million horse race when it was inaugurated in 1981.
The longest-priced winner of the Arlington Million was Mill Native at 40.6/1 in 1988.
The Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships were held at Arlington Park in 2002.
Arlington Park replaced its original dirt track with a synthetic, Polytrack, surface in 2007.
Course Closure
In early 2021 the owners of Arlington Park put it up for sale for redevelopment. Later that year the Chicago Bears reached an agreement to buy it, which went through in 2023. The former owners Churchill Downs Inc. were accused by the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association of abandoning “any meaningful commitment to Illinois racing”. The last day’s racing on th course was on September 25th 2021.