Gordon Waterstone

Lexington, KY — Northville Downs will open its 2022 racing season on Saturday night (March 12), with a 13-race card that gets underway at 7:30 p.m. The half-mile racetrack in suburban Detroit gets underway a day late when there weren’t enough entries to fill a card for Friday, which was the scheduled opening program.

Back to defend his 2021 driving and training dash titles at Northville Downs is Arthur McIlmurray. The 63-year-old veteran horseman began his driving career in the late 1970s and he has amassed more than 3,700 victories with $16.85 million in purse earnings. He began training a small stable in recent years and while he has several driving titles to his credit at Northville over the years, his training title in 2021 was his first.

McIlmurray currently trains a stable of 10 on a farm he shares with his fiancee, Staci Malady, in Rives Junction, about an hour drive from Northville Downs.

McIlmurray will have a full slate of drives on the card and he’ll be active in all three of the $10,500 Opens that will be contested. The trio includes the 9-year-old Crystal Rei, who starts from post one in the Open Pace for fillies and mares (race three). McIlmurray also trains the daughter of Cheyenne Rei, who is owned by Malady.

This will be the first pari-mutuel start for Crystal Rei since last December, with only a fifth-place finish in a March 3 qualifier at Northville serving as a prep.

McIlmurray noted the harsh winter in Michigan has set all the Wolverine State-based horsemen back on training schedules.

“She’s probably going to need a start or two, honestly, as it’s been hard to get horses ready here because the weather has been just awful,” said McIlmurray. “But this mare means a lot to us as she’s a homebred of Staci’s and was raised right here on the farm.”

McIlmurray will also direct the 13-year-old Lockkeeper gelding Natural Forces from post seven in the Open Trot (race six). Trained by Kevin St. Charles, Natural Forces’ resume shows 312 starts with 84 wins, 29 seconds and 48 thirds, with $519,193 in earnings.

Just as Crystal Rei, this will be Natural Forces’ first pari-mutuel start since finishing third on Dec. 17.

“He’s in a tough spot and will probably need a start or two also, but he’s a good old horse,” said McIlmurray.

McIlmurray’s third Open starter is Liberal, who will line up in post eight in the Open Pace (race nine). But while McIlmurray also trains the 11-year-old gelded son of I Am A Fool, he won’t be in the sulky. Instead, he will hand the lines off to Justin Irvine, who was voted the 2021 Rising Star of the Year Award in Michigan.

This will be Liberal’s eighth start of the year, with the prior seven all coming at Northfield Park. With Irvine in the bike for all seven starts, Liberal has yet to find the winner’s circle but has three seconds and two thirds to his credit.

“Justin has been doing a good job with him and I want him to keep the drive,” explained McIlmurray.

Post eight in a nine-horse field that includes a trailer doesn’t concern McIlmurray.

“That horse can really, really leave the gate and he’ll be up toward the front,” he said.

McIlmurray is the last active member of one of Michigan’s founding families of racing. McIlmurray’s brother, Wally Jr., passed away in November 2020, and he dedicated his 2021 season to his sibling, thus his duo of dash titles were of even more significance.

“It was the first time I ever won the driving and training titles and it was an emotional year sometimes,” said McIlmurray, whose sister, Lella, is married to bloodstock agent Bryan Montgomery. “I think about my brother all the time.”

Northville Downs will race Fridays and Saturdays until the end of June, and then after a short break the track will resume racing in early September.