Hot trainer-jockey combo may test Chad Brown at Arlington

Arlington Heights, Ill. 

The temptation is to bet the all-Chad Brown ticket as if it were a vote straight down the party line. Why not? He has five consecutive wins in the Beverly D., one of the big three turf races Saturday at Arlington Park. And he has three in a row in the Arlington Million, which is now known as the Mister D.

But a funny thing might happen on the way to making bets on those Grade 1 races. Just look at that line in the past performances that says “Hot Tnr/Jky combo in last 14 days.” In that time Larry Rivelli and Jareth Loveberry have been on a 15: 4-6-3 roll. They are also on their way to being the leading trainer and rider at Arlington. Again.

It may be a bold call to think they can topple Brown and heavy, morning-line favorite Domestic Spending (6-5) in the $600,000 Mister D. Stakes (G1). But they have a live, local chance with Bizzee Channel (6-1).

“We’re up against it,” said Rivelli, the eight-time training champion whose 56 victories in the current meet are more than his next three rivals combined. “Chad’s a good friend of mine, and that’s a superstar horse.”

Related: Horsemen make 2 bids to save Arlington Park.

With only one loss in seven career races, 4-year-old Domestic Spending has won his last four starts. Three of those were Grade 1s, including the Manhattan Stakes last out on the Belmont Stakes undercard. But the deep-closing gelding by Kingman will have to come and get it in Bizzee Channel’s back yard.

“He’s here. This is his home track,” said Loveberry, whose 72 wins give him more trips to the Arlington winner’s circle this summer than any two other jockeys. “He’s always given me everything he’s had. They have to come to us.”

It is not in the same class as Domestic Spending’s current run, but Bizzee Channel is on his own winning streak. He has won his last four starts on the Arlington Park turf, including last month’s step up to the Arlington Stakes (G3). He came from just off the pace to win by a neck against three other horses entered in the Mister D.

“He’s very tactical,” said Loveberry, 33, a Michigan native who was the top rider at Canterbury Park in Minnesota before moving full time last year to Chicago. “He’s been in front. He’s been off of it. He’s been on the inside and come around. Wherever he needs to be, that’s where he’ll be in the race. Just save some horse for the end, hope he has the kick, and we have the right trip.”

“We’re going to have to check every box and then some and then hope (Domestic Spending) has an off day,” Rivelli said. “Let’s face it. If he runs his race, and we run our race, as far as what’s been proven in the past, he's just a better horse. Our horse is getting better, and we’re home, so we have nothing to lose. There’s no pressure. We’re going to let it rip.”

Not only is Rivelli looking for his first win in what is now the Mister D., he also has a pair of 3-year-olds in the Bruce D. (G1), the turf mile formerly known as the Secretariat Stakes. Loveberry will ride King of Miami (5-1), and E.T. Baird will be on Like a Saltshaker (12-1).

One other thing. Brown does not have a horse in the Bruce D.

“That race didn’t come up as tough as I thought,” Rivelli said. “King of Miami, who won at Canterbury in the Mystic Lake Derby, is a 3-year-old colt we bought off of Wesley Ward. And Like a Saltshaker, I like them both. That’s like a coin toss. I’ve worked them twice back on the turf, and (King of Miami) has worked unbelievable. If he shows up like he did that night at Canterbury, he’ll be tough to beat.”

In his 22nd season as a professional trainer, Rivelli has won eight graded stakes. If he were to win the Bruce D. or the Mister D., it would be the first Grade 1 victory of a career that brought him to Chicago by way of stops like Canterbury and Mountaineer. Along the way he connected with Loveberry.

“Jareth rode for me maybe 15 years ago at Mountaineer,” Rivelli said. “A buddy of mine, (agent) John Costanzo, had his book. I didn’t know Jareth, but I just usually rode whoever that guy had, so I rode Jareth. He was by far the best rider there by a mile.”

Their paths crossed again two years ago at Canterbury, where Rivelli was in need of a first-call replacement after José Valdivia moved his tack to California.

“I reached out to a couple of friends to get a hold of Jareth, and I tried to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” Rivelli said.

That memory got Rivelli and Loveberry laughing as they chatted with Horse Racing Nation and the VSiN racing podcast during a renovation break Thursday morning at Arlington. Sometimes this summer the smiles have felt forced. That is because Churchill Downs Inc. announced last winter it had begun taking bids to sell Arlington Park and close the track permanently after the current meet ends Sept. 25.

Loveberry, who has a wife and two children, moved to Illinois after the state legalized expanded gambling two years ago. One of the bill’s intentions was to help finance horse racing.

“When the gaming passed in Illinois, I thought it would be a good place to come move with my family,” he said. “I could be year-round racing in one place. I also reached out (to Rivelli), so it was good timing.”

While CDI controversially took a pass on the expanded-gambling option at Arlington, Hawthorne Race Course in nearby Stickney, Ill., jumped at it. Since it has been granted a full year’s worth of racing dates in 2022, Loveberry does not regret the move to Chicagoland 

“It is a good opportunity to ride the right horses for the right people and win races,” he said. “When you can win, you’ve got to make that move. Time will tell what else happens.”

Rivelli hopes he and his fellow horsemen can convince CDI to sell the land to them. They submitted two different bids to compete with the Chicago Bears, a local developer and maybe other rivals in hopes of saving the track. Admitting that is a “Hail Mary,” Rivelli pondered the possibility of what is still called Million Day being staged at Hawthorne next summer.

“I would probably say it’s possible,” Rivelli said. “They’ve got a casino. They’re going to get a windfall of money. The purses will go up, but it’s a different landscape over there. I’m not too sure how it will look. But as far as the venue, you can’t duplicate this place.”

“Hopefully, Hawthorne will take the reins,” Loveberry said. “We’ll try to make it home. What comes next year will come next year. We’ll try to put our best foot forward, but right now we’ve got to deal with what we have.”