This morning, the first groups of out-of-town stakes horses for the Arlington International Festival of Racing took to the track.

Over at Picks and Ponderings, Paul Mazur and I share a few pictures of the horses on both the main track and the training track, as well as a video of Euro Charline taking an easy little jog over the turf.

Of course, the stakes horses were not the only ones to work today.  I wished this grey from the Block barn could have galloped home with me, instead of back to the barn.

Panama Hat was the first Festival horse to hit the main track.  One of the Team Valor contingent, he won the Lenabane Stakes going twelve furlongs at Roscommon in his last start.  He pre-entered for the American St. Leger.

Elleval stands to be one of the longer shots among the European contingent in the Arlington Million, but it looks like he shipped over here well.

This guy continued the theme of grey horses from the Block barn who I wanted to take home with me.

This Wayne Catalano trainee stuck with his pony for a while, but was eventually ready to work.

Near the end of the morning, Euro Charline came out for an easy canter in the grass.  Paul stayed on one side of the winners’ circle, and I stood on the other.  As shown in the Picks and Ponderings post, Paul won the Euro Charline lottery.  I, on the other hand, got a much better view of her pony.

Though Euro Charline may be a Grade I winner, the pony emerged the clear winner of the flashy blaze contest.

Euro Charline’s spin over the turf marked the end of training.  Tomorrow we will be back at Arlington.  Things get even more lively tomorrow.  More stakes horses should train, and the card will be drawn as well.  I will be heading out again for morning workouts, and also going to the draw.

Until tomorrow!