Slumber, Big Blue Kitten star in Arlington Million

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Chad Brown required an assist from the Arlington stewards to win his first Arlington Million as the judges took down The Apache’s number and put up Real Solution’s in the 2013 Million.

Brown can take care of business on his own this time, since North America’s leading turf trainer has the two leading contenders for Saturday’s 33rd running of the Million, a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Big Blue Kitten starts for Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who celebrated Real Solution’s promotion alongside Brown two years ago. He also sends out Slumber, who has hit career best form with the addition of blinkers two starts ago and might be Big Blue Kitten’s better at the Million’s 1 1/4 mile trip. Both horses will be aided by a third Brown runner, Shining Copper, a Ramsey horse entered as a pacemaker for Big Blue Kitten, a closer.

The Brown gang is part of a 13 horse field that goes five deep in European shippers, though none of the overseas horses is proven at the Grade 1 level, and three of them managed to draw poor outside posts. Belgian Bill and Elleval are 30-1 chances on the Arlington morning line, though the former has trained with aplomb this week and with luck can crash the Million superfecta. Bookrunner, from France, never has beaten a horse of much quality and looks more like a miler, while the German 5 year old Wake Forest never even has started above the Group 3 level overseas.

The same can be said of Godolphin’s England based colt Maverick Wave, though he has trainer John Gosden in his corner. Gosden won the 2010 Million with the 11-1 Debussy, and Maverick Wave has drawn comparisons to that horse, in large part because the pair won the same Group 3 race at Chester, a seven furlong, left handed, tight turned course that can be a harbinger of American success for an overseas horse. But Debussy came to Arlington with a longer and stronger résumé than Maverick Wave, who spent last fall and winter as a denizen of the England all weather circuit. Gosden said he’s had the Million in mind for Maverick Wave since late spring. He’s a grand looking horse with a great, big stride” said Gosden, who races Maverick Wave on Lasix. “It would have been better had the bit of rain you had forecast there actually come.”

Gosden’s concern about very fast ground here is merited. There is a slight chance of rain Thursday night through Saturday afternoon, but if none falls, it will take heavy watering to make the local lawn anything less than firm and fast playing. Another potential issue for overseas horses: heat. The high temperature for race day is forecast to approach 90 degrees, and it will be humid.

The air should have cooled a bit, though, by the time the Million goes off at 5:48 p.m. Central. It’s the last of five graded stakes on the card, with the Grade 3 Pucker Up kicking off the action. The main event gets started in race 7, the $350,000 American St. Leger, which starts an all stakes, $150,000 guaranteed 50 cent pick four landing on the Million. Race 8, the Secretariat, pits leading American light Force the Pass against a good trio of Europeans, headed by Highland Reel. The Euros are especially strong in race 9, the Beverly D., which includes the 2014 winner, Euro Charline.

WGN America is covering the Million in a broadcast from 5-6 p.m.

Key contenders

Slumber (Last 3 Beyers: 102 -106 - 95) Sold by Juddmonte Farms last fall and turned over to Brown, who was training Slumber in blinkers before he added them for racing in the Grade 1 Manhattan on the Belmont Stakes card. Bingo new horse. Slumber had teased and teased with close finishes in big races, but in the Manhattan, over the Million’s 1 1/4 mile trip, he broke through, winning by almost three lengths. “He’d had some bad luck, but we thought he was losing some position in his races” Brown said of the addition of blinkers. “He’s in great form, this horse, and firm turf helps him." Big Blue Kitten beat him in the United Nations, but while the winner was cruising to the lead on the far turn, Slumber was stuck behind a fading rival and got trapped again in upper stretch.

Big Blue Kitten (Last 3 Beyers: 105 - 101 -102) Model of consistency has not run a subpar race since the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Turf and has been first or second in his last five starts. Big Blue Kitten won the Fort Marcy over nine furlongs to start his 2015 campaign but probably is best at distances even longer than the Million’s 10 furlongs. Fell too far behind a slow pace in the Manhattan, finishing second, but got a better run with help from the pacemaker Shining Copper in the U.N.

Triple Threat  (Last Beyer: 99) French import won the June 7 Monmouth Stakes, his U.S. debut, with a breathtaking late run. Was scheduled to start here last month in the Arlington Handicap but had to be scratched due to illness.

Belgian Bill (No previous Beyer) He probably can’t win, but no invader for the big races here has trained with better energy this week.