Two Emmys Upsets Domestic Spending to Win Mr. D. Stakes

If the Mr. D. Stakes (GT) was the final vestige of the Arlington Million, it will go into the history books as a victory for the locals, thanks to a felony-level theft.

Two Emmys , a 5-year-old English Channel   gelding, shot to the lead the first time past the wire as jockey James Graham got him out and relaxed. He slowed the pace to a crawl and, when no one challenged, had plenty left down the Arlington International Racecourse stretch to win by a neck. 

The favorite, Domestic Spending , raced just back of that slow pace and did all he could at the end for jockey Flavien Prat and trainer Chad Brown but wound up with too much to do. Brown had won the last three editions of the Million.

Arlington's owner, Churchill Downs Inc., has the property on the sale block for redevelopment and this season is marketed as "The Final Turn." The signature race was renamed for long-time Arlington owner Richard L. Duchossois, honoring the 99-year old World War II veteran and clearing the way to reduce the purse to $600,000.

Duchossois did not attend the final "Million" but his three living children and a crowd of grandchildren and great-grandchildren were on hand, touring the architecturally lauded facility and assisting with trophy presentations for the three grade 1 races.

Sentiment flowed as the prospect of demolition of the track loomed over a perfect summer afternoon and many in the crowd cheered the victory by Two Emmys, trained by Hugh Robertson and racing for him and locals Wolfe Racing.

"I knew after the first quarter when I got him to go slow, he'd finish," Graham said. "If you look at his races at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, you can see he can cope with a slow pace."

Owner Randy Wolfe said Graham told him before the race, "I sure hope I get a spot because if I do, I know I can get him to relax."

Wolfe said there were question marks early in the week about whether Two Emmys would even run in the race under the 126-pound impost.

"He'd never run that far (1 1/4 miles) under that weight," Wolfe said, adding he and Robertson discussed scratching.

"I asked him what he thought and he said, 'Let's give him a chance,'" Wolfe said.

The Mr. D. affords the winner an opportunity to compete in the Japan Cup in Association with Longines (G1) in November at Tokyo Racecourse and Japan Racing Association's New York representative, Takahiro Uno, was on hand to invite Two Emmys to that prestigious event.

"He's not going anywhere at all," Robertson said of Two Emmys.

Two Emmys, bred by Tottenwood Thoroughbreds, is out of the Buddha mare Miss Emmy. He came into the Mr. D. with a record of just three wins from 15 career starts and seven second-place finishes. One of those seconds came in the Arlington Stakes (G3T) on "Million Preview Day" July 17, when he led from the start and was just caught at the line by Bizzee Channel , who finished fifth in the Mr. D.

"So we beat the horse that won the 'Million,'" said Larry Rivelli, eight-time Arlington champion trainer and conditioner of Bizzee Channel, who was his first-ever Million starter.

If the story for the winner was a theft job on the front end, it was just the opposite for Irish invader Armory , a 4-year-old Galileo colt racing for the Coolmore partners. Parked as usual well back of the leaders, Armory found another gear at the top of the stretch to begin a challenge but couldn't make enough headway to finish any better than sixth.

Earlier in the year, Armory reported third in the Prince of Wales's Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot and a close fourth in the Sky Bet York Stakes (G2) in the north of England. In each of those, his late bid also fell short at the end.

"The horse is fine," said Armory's rider, Ryan Moore. "No pace. Just too slow. You can't close into that."

Video: Mr. D. S. (G1T)