Two races that stand out

I had the good fortune of attending a handful of the Arlington Million races over the years. Two stand out as the most exciting of the bunch.

The first was back in 1981 when John Henry won by a nose over the 50-1 long shot The Bart. The other was back around 2003 or so, soon after the release of the movie blockbuster Seabiscuit. The real life jockey "Gary Stevens" had a part playing himself and had the mount on the favorite horse that day to win the race.

In both of these races my money was on the horse that finished first but I only won once. In this race as the heavy favorite is about to win by one to two lengths as the field approaches the finish line, the horse gets spooked, starts running sideways, and throws the jockey off and passes the finish line first without his rider aboard. Gary Stevens was trampled on by a few horses and lay motionless to the gasp in the crowd. The hysterical crowd goes from exuberance to silence in three seconds.

The hushed crowd watched the stretchers come out and cart the jockey off while the winning horse was disqualified for not having his jockey on board.

Mr. D (owner of the track) went to see how Gary Stevens was recovering later that night at NW Community Hospital and when he got up to his room, they wouldn't let him in without a photo ID. He explained who he was to no avail. Back down to his car he went to get his driver's license to provide proof.

He was then allowed in to see Gary Stevens, who made a full recovery.

Tom Dahlquist

Arlington Heights