Raiders eye Arlington pot This weekend's valuable card at Arlington has tempted 14 overseas raiders to try their hand in the United States. The feature race at the Chicago track takes place on Saturday night with Aidan O'Brien's Treasure Beach running in the Arlington Million. Four of the 11 runners are trained in Britain. Luca Cumani runs Afsare who is joined in the line up by Crackerjack King (Marco Botti), Colombian (John Gosden) and Wigmore Hall (Michael Bell). In what is thought to be an average renewal of the one and a quarter mile showpiece, the European team have a huge chance of landing the spoils and Cumani believes that Afsare is the right sort of horse for the race. "You need a good finish, because the straight there is short," he told Daily Racing Form, "as well as a mature horse with a good brain that takes everything in his stride." One horse that will be able to show the raiders around is the eight-year-old Rahystrada who will become the tenth horse to have made three starts in the prestigious contest. The draw has not been kind to the veteran though who, for the second year in a row, will have to break from the potentially disadvantageous one post. Rayhstrada was fourth in 2010 and fifth, beaten less than four lengths, last season. The Million starts on the end of the far turn, and the horse in post one breaks from the gate into open space before hitting the home straight for the first time. From that spot last year, Rahystrada fell farther behind than desirable and never could bridge the gap. The race is immediately preceded by the Beverly D Stakes which features David Simcock's I'm A Dreamer who will be ridden by Hayley Turner with Up (O'Brien) and Joviality (Gosden) other familiar names to British racing fans while they are joined by Kapitale who makes the journey from Germany for the Grade One contest. O'Brien will also be represented in the Grade One Secretariat Stakes by Daddy Long Legs with Alain de Royer-Dupre's Bayrir the only other European challenger in an eight strong field with Dale Romans' Silver Max expected to be a warm order on the night. The other European challengers can be found in the inaugural running of the $400,000 American St. Leger over an extended mile and five. Gosden and Botti are again represented by Zuider Zee and Jakkalberry respectively while Mikael Magnusson runs Bridge Of Gold who will be ridden by Kieren Fallon.
