HorseRacing.com

Web

The History of Horse Racing

Arlington Race Track - Home of Innovation in Horse Racing

Arlington Park Race Track is an unforgettable venue to experience thoroughbred horse racing. Perfectly maintained lush gardens and sparkling clean facilities greet you at this elegant racecourse with its magnificent six-story grandstand and sweeping tracks. Arlington has been a premier venue for horse racing in Illinois since 1927 and right from the start has been well known for its innovations.

In 1933, Arlington made horse racing history with its revolutionary step of installing the first all-electric totalisator, a system that reduced the time between races. The system also added credibility to betting information by displaying the amount bet on each horse in a race. The following year the first turf races were run in Arlington also a first in Illinois history. But, innovations did not stop there.

In 1936, Arlington installed Chicago's first photo-finish camera, called the Eye in the Sky and in 1940 the racecourse got its first electric starting gate. As the popuarity of the sport and race track grew the club installed a closed circuit TV system in 1967 which was the first time this was done for any sport. This was followed by the introduction of Trifecta wagering in 1971, and ten years later Arlington made history once again when it hosted the world's first million dollar race, The Arlington Million.

Richard Duchossois led an Illinois investment group and bought the racecourse with plans to revolutionize the sport and track. Unfortunately soon after that, a fire gutted the entire club in 1985. The show went on despite this and the meet was shifted to Hawthorne Racetrack. The club however was determined to hold its fifth Arlington Million at Arlington by using temporary bleachers. The fifth Million, appropriately known as the "Miracle Million" earned the the entire Arlington team a well-deserved Eclipse Award, the first ever awarded to a racetrack.

Richard Duchossois later bought out his partners, and Arlington re-opened on June 28, 1989, with a new name, the Arlington International Racecourse, at the same time introducing a new concept in thoroughbred racing. The idea was to make Arlington Park a center for wholesome family entertainment. The state of the art racecourse participated in the excitement of the first Dubai World Cup, the world's first $4 million race in 1996 with the hosting of its simulcast for North and South America.

After an absence of two years Arlington reopened in 2000. In September, Arlington Park and Churchill Downs Incorporated completed its merger and the track reverted to wagering in 1971. Ten years later Arlington made history once again when it hosted the world's first million dollar race, The Arlington Million.