ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – They called 1985, the year Arlington ran the Arlington Million weeks after a fire destroyed the grandstand, the Miracle Million. This was a Miracle Million, too. Hardest Core’s biggest win until this weekend had come July 12, when he captured the $50,000 Cape Henlopen at Delaware Park. His trainer, Edward Graham, never had started a horse in a graded stakes on the flat, and jockey Eriluis Vaz had ridden only two of them during a long career. But Graham had Hardest Core in peak form Saturday, Vaz gave the gelding a textbook ride, and a horse few had even heard of until his name showed up in the entries here beat Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Magician by one length for an incredible victory.  “Amazing,” said Vaz. “It’s a great feeling.” :: Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Results, replays, charts, and more The Million is a Win and You're In event for the Breeders' Cup Turf. The storylines wrapped round Hardest Core could fill a novel. He was bought as a steeplechase prospect for $210,000 at Keeneland’s November auction last year by Greg Bentley, who gave the horse to his son, Andrew, as a 30th birthday present. Andrew has Down syndrome, but lives life to the fullest. He gave speeches Saturday after Hardest Core won, and did a television interview. Rusty Carrier, a former steeplechase rider and trainer, discovered Hardest Core for Bentley. Carrier might still be training for the Bentleys himself, but he has periodic seizures. Hardest Core, just a 4-year-old now, was surprisingly entered in the Keeneland auction after a solid, promising 3-year-old season racing for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and a partnership. Hardest Core would have gone to trainer Paul Roland, but Roland, Eddie Graham’s close friend, died last fall of mesothelioma. Before he passed away, he connected the Bentleys with Graham. Hardest Core arrived at the small southeastern Pennsylvania farm where Graham trains and was gelded, but Hardest Core had a hernia that caused his intestines to spill from his body after the procedure. “We were trying to get him up, trying to get him up,” said Graham. “We didn’t know if he was going to get up.” Hardest Core finally was raised to his feet, transported to the nearby New Bolton veterinary clinic. Not only did he survive, he was “banging on his feed tub” three days later, said Graham. Hardest Core might have gone straight into jump racing, but Graham thought he deserved a chance to continue on the flat. Fully recovered, he went back into training in February, and since then, everything has gone right. Hardest Core won his comeback race, a third-level allowance at Parx, on June 28, and then impressively captured the Cape Henlopen over 1 ½ miles. Graham, Carrier, the Bentleys, and exercise rider Jody Petty pondered options: the Sword Dancer at Saratoga, the American St. Leger here today, or the Million. This past Monday, after Hardest Core worked on dirt at the Fair Hill Training Center, they made their choice. “When I worked him Monday it was awesome,” said Petty, who was Animal Kingdom’s rider before he won the Kentucky Derby. “Everything went so perfect.” Hardest Core broke from post 1 in the Million. Vaz could have gone to the lead, but he held his position along the rail and let 9-5 race favorite Magician take over after a half-furlong. Joseph O’Brien on Magician didn’t want the front either, and Side Glance came over from his outside draw to take over on the first turn, setting splits of 25 seconds, 49.45, and 1:13.67. Magician was the first to bid, going up to challenge Side Glance with a little less than three furlongs left to run, Hardest Core still down at the fence. Vaz said he knew he had horse and was just waiting for a chance to switch out. He did so at the quarter pole.  Hardest Core, a massive horse with quick feet and an excellent mind, switching just off Side Glance’s heels as he straightened away. Drifting out as he gathered himself for a final run, Hardest Core bore down on Magician and a hard-riding O’Brien. There was no question of the horse staying the distance, and Hardest Core displayed an ample turn of foot, pushing past Magician with a half-furlong to run, on his way to a rousing score. Bet down to a surprisingly short 11-1, Hardest Core paid $25 to win, running 1 1/4 miles on firm turf in a solid 2:01.51. Behind Side Glance came Up With the Birds, Finnegans Wake, Smoking Sun, and last year’s adjudged winner. Real Solution, “At the quarter pole he was empty,” said Real Solution’s jockey, Javier Castellano. “He didn’t fire today,” Hardest Core, by Hard Spun- Lillybuster, was bred by Mueller Farms. He earned a fees-paid berth with travel expenses to the Breeders’ Cup Turf with this win. Graham, his eyes red, acknowledged the Breeders’ Cup as a likely year-end goal, but said he had “no clue” where Hardest Core would start next. “I got to get over this one first,” he said, speaking for many people who saw the 2014 Arlington Million,