Arlington Park

Arlington International Racecourse is a horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Horse racing in the Chicago region has been a popular sport since the early days of the city in the 1830s, and at one time Chicago had more horse racing tracks (six) than any other major metropolitan area. Arlington International was the site of the first thoroughbred race with a million-dollar purse in 1981. It is located near the Illinois Route 53 freeway.

History

Arlington International Racecourse was founded as Arlington Park by California businessman Harry D. "Curly" Brown who would later serve as president of Oriental Park Racetrack in Havana, Cuba. The track officially opened in 1927 to 20,000 spectators. Jockey Joe Bollero, who later became a successful trainer, rode Luxembourg to victory in the first race ever run at Arlington.

Benjamin F. Lindheimer acquired control of Arlington Park in 1940 and owned it until his death in 1960. Long involved with the business, adopted daughter Marjorie Lindheimer Everett then took over management of the racetrack. Widely respected Hall of Fame trainer Jimmy Jones of Calumet Farms was quoted by Sports Illustrated as saying that Lindheimer "was the savior of Chicago racing" and that "Arlington Park became the finest track in the world—certainly the finest I've ever been on." Benjamin Lindheimer is well remembered as the person who promoted the 1955 match race broadcast by CBS Television in which Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Nashua defeated Kentucky Derby winner, Swaps.

Arlington Park station

Arlington Park is one of two Metra commuter railroad stations along Metra's Union Pacific/Northwest line in the Village of Arlington Heights, Illinois. The station is located at 2121 West Northwest Highway (US 14) and Wilke Road, within Arlington Park Race Course, and lies 24.2 miles (38.9 km) from the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago. In Metra's zone-based fare system, Arlington Park is in zone E.

The Arlington Park station was designed originally to serve just the Arlington Park Race Track, but now serves postal employees at the Processing and Distribution Center in Palatine as well as residents of southeast Palatine and west Arlington Heights, although a fence blocks most of the access to the station from the Palatine side. Despite its original purpose as a racetrack station, Arlington Park is located along the Union Pacific / Northwest Line's main line, rather than a spur or a sidetrack. No bus connections are available, although a Pace route, 723 previously served rush hour commuters to and from the east side of Palatine and the Rolling Meadows courthouse.

Arlington Park (disambiguation)

Arlington Park is a race track in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Arlington Park may also refer to:

See also

Arlington Park (novel)

Arlington Park is author Rachel Cusk’s seventh book. The novel is a rewriting of the Virginia Woolf novel Mrs. Dalloway. Set in a single day in suburban England, the book chronicles the minor victories and tragedies of a group of middle-class families. In the characters preparations for a dinner party the book explores the thoughts and actions of each person.

Arlington Park made it onto the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction shortlist.

References