Robert Bruce king of 36th Arlington Million
Carlos Lavin was vacationing in Scotland when he came across a statue.
"It was of Robert The Bruce, the first king of Scotland," said the native of Santiago, Chile, a longtime thoroughbred owner and breeder. "The statue was so beautiful and he seemed so powerful."
So Lavin named one of his foals Robert Bruce, and Saturday at Arlington Park the now 4-year-old colt was the king of the Arlington Million.
The Chilean-bred son of Irish-bred Fast Company came rolling down the stretch to win the 36th edition of the Million by a half-length over stable mate Almanaar.
There was no question as to who was king of the International Festival of Racing.
In quite possibly the finest day by a trainer in the history of Arlington Park, which opened in 1927, Chad Brown saddled the top two finishers in the Million, the top three in the $600,000 Beverly D. and the runner-up in the $400,000 Secretariat.
"I actually love coming to this place," said the 39-year-old native of upstate New York. "It's one of our highlights of the year. We circle these races, and we've been blessed to have horses good enough for them.
"You know, you have to have the horses. And then after the horses you have to have the people to work with them. I have a huge roster of all-star people at all different levels of my team to make this happen."
Brown's mentor is the late trainer Bobby Frankel, who started 17 horses in the Millon, winning in 2000 (Chester House) and 2002 (Beat Hollow).
"I think about him (Frankel) all the time," Brown said. "I can't train these horses without thinking about him and asking myself what would Bobby have done here or there, this situation or that situation? I know I say it all the time, but I love the guy. He taught me so much."
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. swung Robert Bruce six wide for the stretch drive and finally edged clear, getting past Almanaar in the final sixteenth.
The front-running Century Dream opened up a 2-length lead at the top of the stretch before finishing three-quarter-lengths ahead of Catcho En Die and Arlington leading rider Jose Valdivia Jr.
However, Valdivia claimed foul against Century Dream for interference near the sixteenth pole, and the stewards moved his horse to third and dropped Century Dream to fourth.
Robert Bruce (5-2) went off the second favorite behind Oscar Performance (9-5), who ran third most of the way but had to be pulled up near midstretch by jockey Jose Ortiz.
After winning all the classic races in Chile, Lavin sent Robert Bruce to the United States this May to Belmont Park, where he won the Grade III Fort Marcy and then was sixth in the Grade I Manhattan, losing by only a length.
"There were 13 horses in (the Manhattan)," said Irad Ortiz, who celebrated his 26th birthday Saturday and became the first jockey to steer a Chilean bred to victory in the Million. "Tyler (Gaffalione, who rode Robert Bruce that day) rode a good race. He just couldn't get out to the clear.
"It wasn't easy for him, but today was a smaller field, a little more speed. So thank God I didn't have any traffic. I put him in the clear on the stretch. On the backside I didn't want to fight with him, just wanted him to be happy on the backside, so when I turned to the backside and went to the 10-path I didn't panic."