NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Tight Spot Runs Just Like a Million

Tight Spot eschewed his front-running ways and sprinted through a tight spot 50 yards from the finish to win the Arlington Million Sunday at Arlington Park, near Chicago.

The 4-year-old Southland-based grass specialist, with Laffit Pincay up, held off late challengers by Algenib and Kartajana to give trainer Ron McAnally his third victory in the Million, tying him with Charlie Whittingham as the only trainers to have won the race three times.

Tight Spot ran the final quarter in a blistering 23 2/5 seconds to get clear of Algenib and Kartajana and came home in 1:59 2/5, three-fifths of a second off the fastest Million clocking ever.

The final few yards provided a blur of heads and necks and was run in such close quarters that jockey Kent Desormeaux had trouble switching leads aboard second-place finisher Algenib.

Tight Spot, the only true speed horse in the field, went off as the 9-5 favorite after seven consecutive victories on the grass. But the brown colt, out of His Majesty-Premium by Lyphard, had never run as far as Arlington’s demanding 1 1/4-mile turf course.

Both Pincay and McAnally had feared a slow pace would favor the closers, leaving them with enough speed to overtake Tight Spot. Chenin Blanc’s quick pace took much of the pressure off Tight Spot. Still, he had to prove he had something left for the finish.

Tight Spot returned $5.60, $4.20 and $3. Algenib paid $6.80 and $4.80 and Kartajana returned $4.20.

Tight Spot, who was supplemented for $50,000 to get into the 10-horse field, won $600,000.

Queena earned her third consecutive stakes victory, beating Fit to Scout by a head in Belmont Park’s $200,000 Grade I Maskette Stakes for fillies and mares age 3 and up. Fit to Scout’s fast finish made her runner-up in the six horse field. Favored Meadow Star started sluggishly and settled for fourth.

Queena covered a mile on the fast track in 1:34 4/5 to earn $120,000. She returned $9.40, $5.20 and $5.20.