Favored Paradise Creek Gives Day His First Arlington Million

Favored Paradise Creek overtook Fanmore near the wire to win the Arlington Million, giving Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day his first victory in 10 tries in the turf race.

Paradise Creek, with seven victories and a second in his last eight races, covered the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59 3/5. He made his move on the final turn, beating Fanmore by three-quarters of a length.

Paradise Creek, a 5-year-old owned by Masayuki Nishiyama of Japan and trained by Bill Mott, earned $600,000 as the 9-5 favorite. It was Mott’s first victory in the race.

Paradise Creek returned $5.60, $4 and $2.80. Fanmore, which led most of the way, returned $6.40 and $4.20. Muhtarram returned $3.60.

In the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes for 3-year-olds that preceded the Million, Vaudeville won in a photo finish over Dare And Go. Vaudeville, ridden by Gary Stevens, paid $12.40, $6.60 and $5.40 and tied the stakes record of 2:01 for 1 1/4 miles on turf set by Ghazi in 1992. The track record of 1:58 4/5 was set by Perrault in the 1982 Million. Vaudeville is owned by Ron Crockett of Seattle and earned $240,000.

Dare And Go returned $9.60 and $7. Jaggery John paid $8.20.