NEWS » rs Cup, which you must since it is a

Greater Western Sydney are confident classy midfielder Dylan Shiel will return from a groin injury in Saturdays AFL clash with West Coast.Shiel missed the Giants eight-point win over Gold Coast last Saturday.The 23-year-old has played every other game for GWS this AFL season, helping push the expansion club to fourth spot on the ladder and a maiden finals campaign. Cheap Custom Jazz Jersey .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. Wholesale Custom Jazz Shirts . -- Yogi Ferrell orchestrates pretty much everything in Indianas offence. http://www.customjazzjersey.com/ . -- Quarterback Will Finch threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns, and Yannick Harou rushed in two scores as the No. Custom Jazz Jerseys . Galatasaray said in a statement on its website Monday that Mancini signed a three-year contract and will be paid 3.5 million euros for the upcoming season, with his salary upped to 4. Custom Adrian Dantley Jersey .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. The big race of this weekend is Saturdays Arlington Million at Arlington Park, just north of Chicago. And it says a lot about a race when it can wrest the stakes spotlight this time of year from Saratoga and Del Mar.Then again, the Arlington Million has always been a big deal. Its a true trailblazer that broke a glass ceiling the previous existence of which now seems almost quaint.The Arlington Million was first run in 1981, and its inaugural running was won by the great John Henry narrowly over The Bart in a photo that some folks dispute to this very day. As if to address the matter, John Henry went back to Arlington three years later and won the 1984 Million decisively.In any case, the thrilling finish of the first Million was really only part of the story, and maybe not even the biggest part. The Million was special before it was even consummated, and that was because of its purse.As the name suggests, the Arlington Million carried a purse of $1,000,000, making it the first ever million dollar Thoroughbred race. And that made it a major deal in the racing world, and I mean world. The then outsized purse proved a powerful lure for overseas horsemen, spurring international competition.Its funny, but I feel as though I have to explain what a thing it was for the Million to break the seven-figure purse barrier because many who became fans of the sport later on might not fully comprehend the significance of the moment.This is understandable. Certainly the advent and evolution of the Breeders Cup has reset the frame of reference of what big purses in U.S. Thoroughbred racing mean. This year, the 13 Breeders Cup races will have a total value of $25.5 million, with a minimum purse of $1 million that actually applies only to five Breeders Cup races, and spiraling up to $4 million for the Turf, to $6 million for the Classic.ddddddddddddBut even when you set aside the 13 Breeders Cup races, it might surprise you to know that the Arlington Million, once all alone in terms of value, now has company this year in the form of a staggering 29 other North American stakes with seven figure purses.The Triple Crown races are, of course, members of this club. The 2016 Kentucky Derby had a purse of $2 million, while the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes had purses of $1.5 million, each.The state-to-state breakdown of where these seven figure stakes are run is quite revealing. The Belmont Stakes is one of 11 million-dollar plus events this year in New York, by far the most of any state when you exclude the Breeders Cup, which you must since it is a floating country unto itself, although not nearly as much as it used to be.The state with the next highest number of million dollar-plus races is Kentucky, which has three others in addition to the Derby.Its a bit surprising to me that California has only three million dollar races to call its own (the Breeders Cup will be at Santa Anita this year, but ?), the same as Canada, and only one more than Louisiana and Pennsylvania. But I was also surprised that Florida, which is a major racing center for about 4-1/2 months a year, has only one seven figure race, the same number as West Virginia.That, however, is scheduled to change on Jan. 28, the date of the inaugural $12 million Pegasus World Cup, which, for the moment, anyway, has surpassed the $10 million Dubai World Cup as the richest horse race in the world.Man, just look at what the Arlington Million started. ' ' '