Arlington International Racecourse Barn Notes

By Ryan Martin/Bailey Gallison —-

DOYLE RELISHES FIRST ARLINGTON MEET

Jockey Sophie Doyle came into the 2018 meet at Arlington International Racecourse with a plan. With the racing season wrapping up, everything went according to said plan for the 31-year-old rider.

Doyle was a new face in the jockey’s room at the beginning of the meet but had spent the spring at Hawthorne Race Course riding for Arlington-based trainers to set herself up for what ended up being a successful summer.

“My goal was to come up here and be top three,” Doyle said. “I said to myself that if I didn’t have fifty wins then I would be disappointed. I wanted to set the bar high for myself to be at the top of this meet and luckily we’ve managed to achieve it. We’ve worked hard every day and we actually left the Fair Grounds (Race Course & Slots) early and went to Hawthorne for the spring meet which was just to get the contacts rolling up here because I was a new face – I wanted people to get to know me and show that I am a hard worker. The Hawthorne meet went very well and it carried on into Arlington.”

Doyle closed out the meet with a total of 52 wins having finished in the money at a 46% clip. She secured third in the leading rider standings trailing only Jose Valdivia, Jr. (111) and Mitchell Murrill (81). Prior to joining the Arlington colony, she would spend her summers in Kentucky where she found herself almost always on the road between Churchill Downs, Indiana Grand Race Course, and Ellis Park among other racetracks.

“I spoke to (jockey agent) Penny Fitch-Heyes before I came up here and have been in touch with her quite a few times on and off for the past three years,” Doyle said. “I always thought about coming here and seeing how things materialize in Kentucky, and then after my second season at Fair Grounds, I thought about it. It’s tough being in Kentucky and doing all the travelling around to all the different tracks and being at the Fair Grounds you just get used to being so close by.”

Doyle plans on making a trip back home to England before returning to action at Hawthorne in October. In the winter, she will ride full time at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“Between now and (Fair Grounds) I’m going back to England to renew my visa,” Doyle said. “If I have two or three weeks left I’ll go to Hawthorne and possibly ride a few at Keeneland and then I plan on being down at the Fair Grounds the first week of November. It’s a tough spot to be in and you have to be there early to build up the clientele because they enter a week out so you almost need to spend two to three weeks to get the ball rolling a bit.”

FAMILIAR FACES VALDIVIA, RIVELLI, PATRICIA’S HOPE DEFEND ARLINGTON TITLES

Consistency reigned at Arlington International Racecourse in 2018 with trainer Larry Rivelli, jockey Jose Valdivia, Jr. and Vince Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope LLC successfully defending their titles at the conclusion of the 71-day live meet on Saturday.

The trio have dominated the leaderboard at the Chicagoland oval in recent years with Rivelli earning his fifth consecutive title (sixth overall), while Valdivia and Foglia each secured their fourth consecutive championship.

Rivelli captured his sixth leading trainer title at Arlington with a total of 76 wins. Last year Rivelli set a meet record 79 wins to top the trainer table, eclipsing Wayne Catalano’s mark of 75 set in 2010. Catalano, who was second in the standings in 2017, maintained the position with 26 wins in 2018.

Valdivia won five races on the final day of the meet, earning his fourth leading rider title in as many seasons since moving his tack full time to Arlington in 2015. Valdivia, who scored sensational victories in the Grade III Arlington Classic, the Grade III Stars and Stripes and the Arlington-Washington Futurity this season, topped the podium with 112 wins, reaching triple digits in victories for the third consecutive season. Mitchell Murrill was the second-leading rider of the meet with 81 wins. Sophie Doyle completed a successful first season at Arlington with 52 wins to finish third in the standings.

Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope LLC led all owners in both wins, 44, and purse earnings, $733,179, to continue their successful run at Arlington. Patricia’s Hope LLC have the led the way in wins since 2015. Rich and Karen Papiese’s Midwest Thoroughbreds, with 17 wins, finished second in the standings.

LEADING RIDER JOSE VALDIVIA, JR. CLOSES 2018 ARLINGTON MEET WITH FIVE WINS ON FINAL CARD

For the second Saturday in a row Jose Valdivia, Jr. scored five wins in a single day at Arlington International Racecourse to close out the season as leading rider with 112 victories.

With his title already a lock entering the final day, Valdivia captured the third race with Patricia’s Hope’s Good Bye Greg ($3.60), a four-time winner for at the Chicagoland oval this season for trainer Larry Rivelli. He repeated the effort in the fourth race aboard Joe Sterrenberg and Mario Donato’s Her Wild Lifestyle ($2.60) for Rivelli again. He swept the seventh with David Brown’s Golden Gift ($9.60) for trainer Terry Young and the eighth with LAZ Racing Stable’s Wayne Catalano trainee Senor Blanco ($11.60). He closed out the 2018 season in style, winning the nightcap aboard the Barr Inman-trained Aviating ($12.40) for owner May Valley Farms.

“It never gets old,” said Valdivia. “It has been four years and it is unbelievable how time passes. I’m just very thankful and so happy to be here with my family, (wife) Renee and (children) Siena and Luca. It’s just been a whirlwind.

“It’s never easy, you always have to come out and perform. My agent (Steve Leving) has done an unbelievable job of getting me on the right horses and having the support of the owners and trainers who believe in me.”

The 2011 Belmont Stakes winner captured his fourth consecutive leading rider title at Arlington, earning 141 total wins in 2017, 100 in 2016, and 84 in 2015.

Live racing will return to Arlington International Racecourse next spring on Friday, May 3, 2019 for a 71-day meet. For more action, visit an Arlington Trackside off-track wagering facility near you, or for online wagering visit TwinSpires.com.

Arlington International Racecourse – the Chicago area’s premier Thoroughbred racetrack located in Arlington Heights, Ill. – will run a 71-day meet in 2018 from May 4 through September 22. Arlington International Racecourse, whose parent company is Churchill Downs Incorporated (Nasdaq: CHDN), also operates 10 off-track, simulcast-wagering facilities in Aurora, Chicago, Hoffman Estates, Waukegan, Villa Park, Rockford, Hodgkins, McHenry, Green Oaks and Orland Hills. Arlington International Racecourse is a proud member of America’s Best Racing. Information on Arlington International Racecourse and Trackside OTB can be found online at www.arlingtonpark.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/arlingtonpark and www.facebook.com/tracksideotb, and on Twitter at @Arlington_Park for the latest happenings, @ArlingtonRacing for the latest racing news and @TracksideOTB for all things pertaining to off-track wagering.