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25-544: It currently offers a purse of $ 200,000 and served as a final local prep race for the Arlington Million . The race was hosted by the now defunct Washington Park Race Track in 1943, 1944 and 1945, and by the Hawthorne Race Course in 1985. The Arlington Handicap was run on dirt in 1929–1940, 1942–1953, 1963, 1965–1972, and in 1975. There was no race held in 1940, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1988, 1998, or 1999. In 2022,

50-479: A deal was struck between Ellis Park and the association that would reopen the track. Under this agreement, horsemen would get a larger share of wagering revenues. On March 9, 2009, Geary notified the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission that he would have a reduced racing schedule that year and planned to close the track the following year, citing a lack of purse money compared to other courses and

75-512: A lack of horses. However, Ellis Park remained open for the 2010 season with the opening race occurring on July 10, 2010. In 2012, Geary sold a 30 percent stake in Ellis Park to the Saratoga Casino and Raceway for $ 4 million, to help fund the installation of Instant Racing machines. Saratoga purchased the remaining 70 percent in 2018. In June 2019 Ellis Park was sold to Ellis Entertainment

100-600: A recommendation from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority . The track was designed after the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York , and features a 1.125-mile dirt track (1.8 km). The track features chutes for seven-furlong (1.4 km) and one-mile (1.6 km) races. A one-mile (1.6 km) turf course was installed in 1993. The facility is 210 acres (0.85 km ) and has

125-592: A sky terrace atop the Grandstand and pushed for the inter-track wagering legislation in Kentucky. They, in turn, sold the track to the Racing Corporation of America in 1989. The company sold the track to Churchill Downs Incorporated in 1998. The racetrack suffered extensive damage, as well as the death of several racehorses, when a tornado ripped through the area on November 6, 2005 . On July 17, 2006, Ellis Park

150-544: A subsidiary of Laguna Development Corporation based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ellis Entertainment has plans for investing $ 60 million to build a new historical racing facility, widening of the turf course, installing lights for the track and improving barns and restaurants throughout the facility. Among the stakes race run at Ellis Park is their signature race and only Graded stakes race the Groupie Doll Stakes which

175-598: Is a Grade 1 flat horse race in the United States for thoroughbred horses aged three years and upward on turf. It was originally raced at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights , Illinois over a distance of 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles. The Arlington Million is the first thoroughbred race to offer a purse of US$ 1,000,000. It is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series, and the winner automatically qualifies for

200-699: Is a Grade III event. Other listed stakes races that are run at Ellis Park include the Ellis Park Breeders' Cup Turf, Governor's Handicap, Tri-State Handicap, Audubon Oaks and the increasingly important Ellis Park Derby which in 2020 became a qualifying race for the Kentucky Derby with the winner receiving 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby . On September 15, 2022, Churchill Downs Incorporated announced that it had entered into an agreement to buy back

225-558: Is owned and operated by Churchill Downs Incorporated . While the track is located north of the Ohio River that forms the border between Kentucky and Indiana , which would put it within Indiana, the border is based on the course of the river at the time Kentucky became a state in 1792. Ellis Park was previously owned by Ellis Entertainment, a subsidiary of Laguna Development Corporation based out of New Mexico. In September 2022 Ellis Park

250-520: The Breeders' Cup Turf . Churchill Downs , whose parent company owned the land of the defunct Arlington Park racetrack, hosted the Arlington Million in 2022. The 2023 race was run at Churchill-owned Colonial Downs in Virginia. The Arlington Million was introduced in 1981 by Joe Joyce , the father of TVG 's Mike Joyce and the president of Arlington Park at the time. The winner receives 60% of

275-474: The Ellis Park property for $ 79 million. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission approved the purchase in a special meeting on September 20, and the sale closed six days later. The acquisition also includes Ellis Park's future gaming and simulcasting facility in Owensboro . In June 2023, due to concerns over twelve horse fatalities, Churchill Downs transferred its spring-summer racing meet to Ellis Park aligning with

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300-437: The event was moved to Churchill Downs after the closure of Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois and run over the shorter distance of 1 + 1 ⁄ 16 miles. Distances: Speed record: 1:42.42 - Set Piece (2023) (at 1 1/16 miles on Churchill Downs turf) Most wins: Most wins by an owner: Most wins by a jockey : Most wins by a trainer : Arlington Million The Arlington Million

325-576: The final year of live racing at Arlington, the race was called the Mister D. Stakes (after Richard L. Duchossois ) with a purse of $ 600,000. The 2022 Arlington Million was run at Churchill Downs . The Louisville racetrack's parent company, Churchill Downs Incorporated (which owns the Arlington Park property), announced that it would relocate the race along with several of Arlington's traditional stakes races. A special one-day Arlington Million racing card

350-514: The first time the Claiming Crown would be held elsewhere other than Canterbury Park since Philadelphia Park hosted the 2002 edition. On July 2, 2008, Ellis Park owner Ron Geary announced that he would close the track, after a federal judge denied an injunction against the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association in an ongoing dispute over simulcast wagering revenues. However, on July 5,

375-455: The inaugural Arlington Million by a nose over The Bart. The track famously ran the Arlington Million in 1985 under the shadow of a burnt-out grandstand, after a fire had occurred there 25 days earlier. In 2007, Jambalaya became the first Canadian bred horse to win the Arlington Million, with his trainer, Catherine Day Phillips , being the first female trainer to ever win the race. The race has been run under several different names: in 1981, it

400-465: The million dollar purse and the Arlington Million Trophy . The race was graded after only its second running and was awarded a grade one status in 1983 based on the talent of the runners that raced in its first two years. The horse John Henry won the race twice. On August 30, 1981, Willie Shoemaker became the first jockey to win a $ 1 million thoroughbred horse race when John Henry took

425-481: The needs of the track and in 1925, after three years of operation, the Green River Jockey Club went bankrupt. In 1925 James C. Ellis, a Rockport businessman, purchased the track, then called Dade Park. He brought about many changes at the track including adding a tote board wagering system and a terrace grandstand. The facility was renamed Ellis Park in 1954. James Ellis died in 1956. The track management

450-520: The relocation of the Arlington Million and other races is another sign that the Arlington Park racetrack was closed for good, adding: "What I want to do now is take a horse down there and win the first Arlington Million at Churchill Downs." Because the Churchill Downs turf course is smaller than the one used at Arlington, the distance of the race was shortened from 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles to 1 + 1 ⁄ 8 miles. In December 2022 an agreement

475-489: The years. Time record: At 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles Most wins: Longest odds: Shortest odds: Most wins by an owner: Most wins by a jockey : Most wins by a trainer : Largest Margin of Victory: Shortest Margin of Victory: Ellis Park Race Course Ellis Park is a thoroughbred racetrack near Henderson, Kentucky , along US 41 between the Twin Bridges and Evansville, Indiana . It

500-686: Was called the Arlington Million Invitational Stakes; from 1982 through 1984 it was known as the Budweiser Million Stakes; from 1985 through 1987, it was the Budweiser-Arlington Million. In 1988, the race was held at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto , Ontario to accommodate the completion of repairs after the 1985 fire, and there was no race held in 1998 or 1999 during a two-year shutdown of Arlington Park. In 2021,

525-501: Was held at Churchill on August 13, 2022. The plans were made possible after Churchill reached an agreement with Ellis Park , which normally controls racing in Kentucky during the summer, along with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and Kentucky horsemen. The move was criticized by the president of a group representing Illinois horsemen. Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association president Chris Block suggested that

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550-465: Was purchased by Ron Geary , a Kentucky businessman, from Churchill Downs Incorporated for an undisclosed sum of money. The track's dates would be shifted so racing would begin at Ellis Park on the Fourth of July, which would have Ellis overlapping the final week of racing at Churchill Downs. The 2007 meet was highlighted by the Claiming Crown, the first running of the Claiming Crown in the state of Kentucky and

575-571: Was purchased by Churchill Downs Incorporated, owners of the thoroughbred track bearing the same name . Ellis Park was built by the Green River Jockey Club in 1922. It initially held a harness meeting on the Grand Circuit for the total of $ 32,000 in purses for a five-day race meeting. On November 10, 1922, a 10-day thoroughbred meet with purses of $ 62,000 was held. The meet was a stop on the train route south to New Orleans for winter racing at Fair Grounds Race Course . These short meets did not meet

600-557: Was reached between Churchill Downs and the American Graded Stakes Committee to move the 2023 Arlington Million to Colonial Downs in Virginia . The move allowed the race to return to its original distance of 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 miles. Several times throughout the race's history, it was nationally televised, usually through a simulcast aired on WGN-TV picked up by their superstation feed , NBCSN , and TVG throughout

625-475: Was then led by Ellis's nephew, Lester E. Yeager. Under Yeager's leadership, a new paddock and jockeys' quarters were built, as well as a new clubhouse and stable areas. He gave leadership to Ruth Adkins in the mid-1960s. Adkins was the chief officer of the James C. Ellis estate, which still owned the track, businesses, and real estate in Kentucky and Indiana. The track was sold in 1985 to Roger and Lila Kumar. They built

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