The grand opening, with official opening ceremonies, will be on Saturday, May 10 and the traditional Mother's Day at the track returns on Sunday, May 11. First post-time for both days is 1:30 p.m.
Arlington Park President Cliff Goodrich today announced that the new first post time for the 2003 Arlington Park meet will be moved a half an hour later to 1:30 p.m. in order to allow more fans to get to the track during the week. During the 2003 season, which runs from Friday, May 9 through Saturday, Sept. 27, the new 1:30 p.m. post time will be in effect every day except Fridays and Aug. 16, Arlington Million Day. "We've had great success with the 3 p.m. post time on Fridays, and feel that starting a half an hour later at 1:30 p.m. will allow more people to come to Arlington Park for a few races at the end of the day," said Goodrich. "The new post time will provide better coordination in the schedule of races nationally. That will be a benefit for both our fans at Arlington Park, who are also wagering on other tracks, as well as our off-track patrons." On Fridays, starting with the May 9 opener, first post time will be 3 p.m. through August, and will move to 2:30 p.m. in September. First post time on International Festival of Racing Day, featuring the Arlington Million on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2003, will be noon.