Review: Arlington Park Racetrack

Arlington Park Racetrack by Kimberly A. Rinker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It is difficult to tell a good story in these Images of America books, and sometimes the topic makes it doubly hard. That was the case here. About half of the pictures were of horses in stride, and given space limitations, you rarely saw the same horse twice. The writeups on the horses showed the expected material - owners, trainers, jockeys, record, family history... There wasn't much excitement in reading the material in this book. The only excitement was in the photos and they got repetitive, although I am sure those race fans who spent a lot of time at the facility and knew their horses would rank these pictures higher. Casual fans, not so much. There were a few pictures of the aftermath of the fire that burned down the grandstand and offices, and I actually found those pictures compelling - there should have been more about the effort to rebuild (enough) for the Arlington Million that year. That was a story. What was really sad, though, was that the book ended on a hopeful note, talking about all the great racing to come at the most beautiful racetrack in the country. Which was closed, sold off, and torn down a few short years after the book was published. I suspect that the book would have included more about the facilities themselves had they known - I don't recall the book having any pictures of the betting windows and the lines there, or the Million Room, or the crowds in the stands, the train stop from downtown, the beautiful and well-kept infield, the special events, or even the office workers. I suspect there is another book that could be written now that the jewel of Illinois horse racing has been demolished.

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