Home of the Arlington Million
So it's time for my latest "Weekend Update" from Arlington Park. Hope all of you enjoyed the Third of July Fireworks Show presented by Bank of America after the races on Thursday. With awesome weather here in Chicago, from all accounts, it was another spectacular show! I decided to make it an early night, so the fun and wiener dog racing (although I do think they are cool) was left in the hands of Entertainment Reporter/White Sox fan Lauren Massarella, who has so much unbridled enthusiasm for Arlington. Woo-Hoo! I thought we had a great crowd on the Holiday, so thanks to all of those fans who came out to Arlington. The feature race on the Fourth was the 77th running of the Stars and Stripes. I have always been a fan of Cloudy's Knight, who last season went North of the Border to capture the Grade I Canadian International at Woodbine (hello to our Canadian readers and fans). Also in the field was the veteran Silverfoot, who seemed to be sitting on a big run if the circumstances could only land in his favor. And, on Friday in the Stars and Stripes, they sure did! Coming from last under a ground saving ride by Top Gun Rene Douglas (the second of three wins on the Holiday), the easy-to-spot son of With Approval, came charging up the fence around the final turn to take over from pace setter Rumor Has It, who had opened up daylight for the backstretch run, before the mile-and-a-half distance exacted it's toll on the leader. Silverfoot swept in front turning for home and charged home for his connections to a popular win in front of the Holiday card. Congratulations to his connections! It was also fun on the Fourth of the July to see Miss Illinois 2008 Katie Lorenz join us for a day of racing. In addition to making the presentation for the Stars and Stripes Handicap, she also took the time from her busy day at Arlington to visit the announcer booth (it kind of reminded me of the Seinfeld episode [season six, The Chaperone] when Jerry met Miss Rhode Island). Katie delighted the crowd with a rousing, "It is now Post Time!" before turning the microphone back to me for the actual call of the seventh race. Although with her talent and personality, I'm sure she could've have pulled it off! Here's wishing Miss Illinois 2008 Katie Lorenz all the best in her future endeavors. And maybe we have even made a new racing fan! We have a full weekend of racing at Arlington. Don't forget after this Holiday weekend, we go back to a 1.25 (central) post time for Wednesday and Thursday. We are off at 2.30 p.m. on Fridays. And weekend post time stays at 1.00 p.m! Hope all of you are having a fun, profitable summer at Arlington. Plenty of great racing still to come with Million Preview Day set for Saturday, July 12 and the Arlington Million looming in August. Looking forward to it all. That's all for now!"Weekend Update" was always one of my favorite segments on Saturday Night Live back in the days of Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin and the legendary John Belushi. Of course, the tradition continues today with the new cast on SNL.
