Benjamin F. Lindheimer assumed management of Arlington Park in 1940 and ran it as the proprietor until his demise in 1960. Having been a key manager of the business for a long time, his adopted daughter Marjorie Lindheimer Everett then continued the running of the racecourse. Widely esteemed Hall of Fame horse trainer Jimmy Jones of Calumet Farms was famously cited by Sports Illustrated as suggesting that Lindheimer "was the saviour of Chicago racing" and also that "Arlington Park became the finest track in the world—indisputably the most excellent I've ever been on." [5] Benjamin Lindheimer is well cherished as the individual who pioneered the 1955 grand racing event that was extensively broadcast by CBS Television in which Preakness and Belmont Stakes champion Nashua badly trounced Kentucky Derby multiple winner, Swaps.
Arlington was the very first track to set up a public-address structure and employed the ground-breaking racing events caller Clem McCarthy to depict the spontaneous action. It supplemented the initial electronic totalisator which made room for an authentic tote board and shortened the time between racing bouts, in 1933. In 1936 it aptly included a clear-vision photo finish camera. Further, it included the very first electric starting gate in early 1940 and the biggest closed-circuit TV apparatus in all of sporting events in 1967 (while Arlington is widely credited in certain circles with the excellent introduction of the advanced trifecta betting in 1971, the New York Racing Association initially provided the bet, properly dubbed "The Triple" a year before in 1970 and it was referred to as that given that it was singularly provided on the very last racing event of the day with restricted exemptions up to 1995 when two were given by the NYRA racetracks and they started the use of the then popular term trifecta).
By1981, Arlington was the proud home of the very first million-dollar thoroughbred racing function in the whole world: The Arlington Million. The outcome of that sporting event is commemorated in bronze at the summit of the main paddock at Arlington Racecourse, where a sculpted image of the award-winning jockey Bill Shoemaker atop John Henry to a breathtaking come-from-behind win over 40-1 long shot The Bart rejoices over the Thoroughbred racing's first million-dollar sporting function.
Arlington started a new epoch when Richard L. Duchossois steered an Illinois investment caucus to buy the racetrack from its previous proprietors and made a commitment to keep on presenting championship track events. That was markedly tested on the 31st day of July 1985, when a little fire widened rapidly out of control and entirely damaged both the grandstand and the Arlington clubhouse.
Uncertain of the future prospects of Arlington Racecourse, the race meet was put off and shifted to Hawthorne Race Course. Nonetheless, it was made clear that the Arlington Million would yet be staged at Arlington International. On August 25, 1985, they fulfilled this promise by using impermanent bleachers. The racetrack was fully re-established in 1989. For a short time, it used the title "Arlington International Racecourse” before it reverted to the initial name. Arlington went back to using Arlington International Racecourse from 2013.
Visit Arlington Parks websites here
YouTube
Tweets by Arlington_Park