Check out the draw and fields for Arlington Park’s last big day

With a 6-for-7 record including three consecutive Grade 1 victories for trainer Chad Brown, Domestic Spending has every reason to be the favorite for Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Mister D. Stakes at Arlington Park. 

He drew post 3 in a field of 10 horses entered Tuesday to start in the 1 1/4-mile turf feature, which used to be known as the Arlington Million. Domestic Spending could be Brown’s fourth consecutive winner in the race and his fifth overall.

With Lemista entered in the $400,000 Beverly D. (G1) for fillies and mares, Brown could wind up with his 13th and 14th winners in the International Festival of Racing. The event, which was interrupted last year by COVID and a dispute between track management and horsemen, is expected to go away after this year because of this fall’s scheduled closing of Arlington Park.

Unlike past years, none of the races will be automatic qualifiers for the Breeders’ Cup. As such, they will allow race-day Lasix.

Mister D. Stakes (G1)

Southern California’s leading rider, Flavien Prat, who holds a four-win lead in the Del Mar jockey standings, is flying to Chicago to ride Domestic Spending. They also were paired June 5, when the 4-year-old Kingman gelding was a 2 3/4-length winner in the Manhattan (G1), a 1 1/4-mile race at Belmont Park.

Including last year’s Saratoga Derby Invitational and Hollywood Derby (G1) and this year’s dead heat in the Turf Classic (G1) and outright score in the Manhattan, Domestic Spending is on a four-race winning streak. The runners-up in each of those races and the third-place finishers in the last two all came back to win their next time out.

Zulu Alpha, the winner of the 2020 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), drew post 5 and will be paired Saturday with Saratoga’s leading rider, Luis Sáez. It will be only the second race for the 8-year-old Street Cry gelding since he spent nine months on the bench. Trainer Mike Maker brought Zulu Alpha back for last month’s 1 3/16-mile Arlington Stakes (G3), in which he finished an empty fifth as the 4-5 favorite.

When the Mister D. race was the Arlington Million, it attracted a parade of overseas starters. This year, Armory and Space Traveller made the trip from Europe.

Armory, who is trained by two-time Million winner Aidan O’Brien, had a Group 2 victory this spring in England. He was then a short-priced third in the Prince of Wales’s (G1) at Royal Ascot and fourth on July 24 in the York Stakes (G2). From post 9, three-time English champion jockey Ryan Moore has the ride on the 4-year-old Galileo colt, who be on race-day Lasix for the first time.

Space Traveller has raced only six times and won only once since he finished eighth in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old Bated Breath horse finished first in a $57,000 stakes in June at York. Two weeks ago, he was a weakening sixth in the Sussex Stakes (G1) at Goodwood, carrying eight more pounds than the 126 that will be on each horse Saturday. With Richard Fahey staying behind in Europe, Brendan Walsh will be this weekend’s trainer of record for Space Traveller, the only Mister D. starter who will not be given Lasix. Daniel Tudhope will ride him from post 7.

The new name for the race is a tribute to Arlington Park patriarch Richard Duchossois, who turns 100 on Oct. 7.

Beverly D. Stakes (G1)

This 1 3/16-mile turf race for females could be a showdown between five-time U.S. graded-stakes winner Mean Mary and Ireland-based Grade 1 victor Santa Barbara.

Mean Mary, ridden by Sáez for trainer Graham Motion, finished first in both the Gallorette (G3) on the Preakness undercard and the 1 1/4-mile New York (G2) the day before the Belmont Stakes. Looking for her third consecutive victory and perhaps her fourth in a row as a favorite, the 5-year-old Scat Daddy mare drew post 2 in the field of seven.

Santa Barbara, who drew No. 4, has been in America since she won the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) on July 10. Trained by O’Brien, she will be ridden again by Moore, who won the race for other trainers in 2013 and 2014. The Camelot filly is trying to become only the second 3-year-old to win in what will be the Beverly D.’s 31 runnings. She will carry only 117 pounds. The other starters, all older, get 123 each.

Lemista might attract money solely on the basis of Brown’s five consecutive wins in the Beverly D., including in 2018 and 2019 with Eclipse Award winner Sistercharlie. After her eighth-place finish last month in the Diana (G1) at Saratoga, the 4-year-old Raven’s Pass filly is 2: 0-1-0 since owner Peter Brant moved her from English trainer Ger Lyons to Brown’s stable in America. Prat will ride Lemista from post 6.

All the Beverly D. starters will be on Lasix, including Santa Barbara and Lemista for the first time.

Bruce D. Stakes (G1)

Formerly known as the Secretariat Stakes, this race is still a two-turn turf mile for 3-year-olds. It did not, however, attract any overseas entries. Identifying a favorite or even value among the six colts and three geldings will be a challenge. Four of the starters are one-time winners; one is a maiden.

Tango Tango Tango, a Calumet-owned Tourist colt in post 2, is cutting back from a 1 1/16-mile, maiden-breaking victory over Arlington turf rated good on July 17 in the $100,000 American Derby. Trainer Jack Sisterson added blinkers for that race and will keep them and jockey Declan Cannon on Tango Tango Tango this weekend.

Point By Me, a Point of Entry colt who drew No. 6, broke his maiden in a 5 1/2-furlong race June 20 at Churchill Downs. On opening day last month at Saratoga, he finished a fast-closing fourth going a mile in allowance company on good turf. Sáez will ride Point By Me for trainer Eddie Kenneally.

Eight of the nine Bruce D. starters will continue to be on Lasix. Maiden winner Shadizaar will remain off it.

Post times and the race order for what is still being called Million Day were due to be set after the rest of the card was drawn Wednesday. The National Weather Service forecast for Saturday at Arlington Park is sunny with a high of 82.