Chicago - A message from the station manager

Howard Sudberry’s Arlington Million Madness

Pulls Off The Superfecta

“I love the horses. People say ‘Ah, you’re talkin’ up the Arlington Million because you work there and ’cause they pay ya’,’ that’s true, but my dad was a trainer, so I’ve been around it all my life.
“Johnny Morris and I did broadcasts from Arlington back in the 1980s, so I’ve been a horse guy for a long, long time.”
– Howard Sudberry, former CBS2 Chicago sports broadcaster and current Arlington Park marketing director.
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And that’s what made his marathon media appearances this week more legit – he’s actually really good – than annoying, though the spectacle on WGN was a bit much.
Let’s take a look.
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It started Tuesday night on the South Side.


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On Wednesday, Sudberry hiked it over to WGN.
[Dear WGN: Haven’t you heard yet that autoplay means you hate your viewers?]
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Then he hurried over to Wrigley Field.


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And finally, as far as we can tell, he hit the Comcast studio for SportsTalk Live. The video is here – no embed option. (Get it together, people . . . )
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Among his comments:
“It’s a participation sport. The winner of the Arlington Million gets $600,000. If you have five bucks on that horse, you’re partners with that guy, you know, you’re emotionally involved in it when they’re coming down the stretch, and you can’t match the electricity.”
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“You can make some good money if you’re good at it, but you’re out there for entertainment and for thrills – that’s what it’s about.”
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“Follow your gut and bet whatever you wanna bet. I never talk anybody out of a wager. You can look at the program you can look at experts’ selections and you can get a consensus from that. You can bet favorites, they’re gonna win a certain amount in the course of the day, but if you want pick a name you like and have fun.”
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“I look at recent form. I wanna know how they’ve run lately. You’re trying to determine if that horses ready to run its peak effort. And then compare it against the other horses running at the same class level.”
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FYI: Sudberry will put his picks on his Twitter feed on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.
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The Arlington Million.
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See also: Sudberry Takes Marketing Reins At Arlington.

Comments welcome.

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Posted on August 16, 2013