Chairman Dick Duchossois pounds the ceremonial golden spike to commemorate the new guardrail in May 1989 at what was then named The Arlington International Racecourse. The new grandstand opened that June after a devastating fire four years earlier. (Daily Herald file photo)
His heart and soul are a part of Arlington Park, but Dick Duchossois says he’s fine with the new owners selling the horse-racing palace he made that is an institution in Arlington Heights.
“We built it,” Duchossois, 99, said during a telephone interview Monday from the Barrington Hills equestrian estate where he lives with his wife, Judi. The man synonymous with Arlington Park poured millions into the track he bought in 1983, and millions more into a glorious rebuild after a devastating fire in 1985, before merging his creation with Churchill Downs in 2000. But he has no regrets that the 326 acres, including the 94-year-old track, are for sale and destined to be developed into something else.
“I think Churchill has two of the finest managers in the country,” said Duchossois, who says he got briefed on the reasons for the sale and details. “It’s been explained to me, and I don’t understand it, but I agree with it.”
He recognizes the role his Arlington Park plays in the village, which incorporated a horse’s head in the shape of the letter A on the official village seal.
“It’s almost like a statue in the village,” Duchossois said of Arlington Park. “But on the other hand, statues get knocked down, too.”
The colorful and charismatic billionaire, who founded The Duchossois Group investment company and Duchossois Capital Management, gives much of the credit for the racetrack’s success to his son, Craig Duchossois, who is chairman and CEO of The Duchossois Group. But the elder Duchossois never stops working, except when his health limits him.
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HAPPY MEMORIES FOR DOG PEOPLE AT ARLINGTON PARK TOO… The Yorkville Kennel Club has their dog show there. In the past my Can CH/13 AKC pointed Shetland Sheepdog named “Rodeo” won Best of Breed, placing over the specially famous BISS CH “Quill” (who would win over 400 BOBs and was #2 and then became #1 Sheltie in US) Rodeo’s eldest son became Am/Can CH Trigue and on the front cover of Sheltie Pacesetter and his youngest son Johnny Bravo who won Best Sheltie Puppy in Breed and Group 4 in Puppy Herding Group at Madison dog show… Every time we drive by there I think of happy moments 🙂 …. Little did I know that I would live on Spring Creek, on the other end of the same road as the legendary Mr. Duchossois.