Hayley Turner to Ride in Arlington Million

British-born Hayley Turner, easily the most successful female jockey in European racing history, will make her Midwestern riding debut in Saturday’s Grade I Arlington Million, centerpiece race of the Chicago Thoroughbred racing season.

Saturday’s 28th renewal of the Million, along with Saturday’s Grade I Beverly D. and Grade I Secretariat Stakes, make up Arlington’s one-day International Festival of Racing.

Turner, 28, will become the fourth female jockey – and second native of Great Britain – to have a mount in the Million when she rides the Irish-bred Wigmore Hall, owned by Mark Hawtin, in the 10-furlong test over Arlington’s world famous turf course.  Wigmore Hall was the runner-up in last year’s Secretariat Stakes.

Hall of Fame jockey Julie Krone became the first in 1991 when she guided Bertram Firestone’s Chenin Blanc to a fourth-place finish.  Great Britain’s Gay Kelleway rode Lewis North’s John Rose to a 12th-place finish in 1992 aboard a horse trained by her father, the late Paul Kelleway.  He had also saddled Geoffrey Kaye’s Madam Gay to a third-place finish behind Dotsam Stable’s John Henry and Franklin Groves’ The Bart in the inaugural Arlington Million.

Last summer, Swedish-born jockey Inez Karlsson rode Robert Courtney Jr.’s Rahystrada to fourth-place finish in Arlington Million XXVIII, but although that horse returns in Saturday’s edition, he will be ridden by Sheldon Russell while Karlsson continues her recovery from the birth of her first child on July 25.

Turner, who accepted her first American mount at Pimlico during Preakness week this spring, returned to Europe shortly thereafter and reached the 500-win milestone aboard a horse named Efistorm on Aug. 1 at Windsor for trainer Conor Dore.

Last month, Turner became the first female jockey in the United Kingdom to win a Group I race outright when she guided Dream Ahead to victory in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket for trainer David Simcock.  In 2005, Turner tied with Saleem Golam for champion apprentice honors and rode her personal-best 100 winners in a season in 2008.