Outside the box Illinois racing resumes

by Neil Milbert

Following a hiatus of two-and-a-half months, the second session of the unconventional Illinois harness racing schedule that has become the norm since its inception in 2022 will begin at the Springfield Fairgrounds on Tuesday (May 13) with the non-betting Illinois Preview races for Illinois-breds 3-year-olds and up.

The races will be funded by the Illinois Department of Agriculture as will five other non-betting programs at Springfield — the Illinois Preview card for 3-year-olds and up on May 21, 2-year-old Preview races on June 14 and 21 and the Cardinal and Violet Stakes on June 18.

There will be Illinois-bred pari-mutuel programs under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield on Aug. 7, 8, 13 and 14 and at the DuQuoin State Fair on Aug. 25, 26 and 27.

A total of 24 non-betting cards funded by Hawthorne Race Course’s purse account are scheduled for Springfield on June 13, 18, 27 and 28, July 25, Sept. 18, 19 and 26, and Oct. 8, 9, 23, 24, 30 and 31 and for DuQuoin on July 10, 11, 17 and 18, Sept. 11 and 12, and Oct. 2, 3, 16 and 17.

Springfield is 175 miles from Hawthorne and DuQuoin is 313 miles away but the fairgrounds at both locations have trainers stabled there year-around.

Many of the trainers and drivers who compete at the Hawthorne meeting also will be in action at the 27 Illinois County Fairs, starting with Green County Fair races at Carlinville on June 3 and the Downstate Classic at Decatur on June 4.

“I went to the county fairs [last summer] for the first time in about 15 years [and] I raced in about a half-dozen of them,” said Casey Leonard, who won his seventh driver championship at the last eight Hawthorne meetings during the 40-night 2024-25 winter meeting that began Oct. 9 and continued through Feb. 23. “It’s a different route than we normally take but it shows where we’re at [economically in Illinois].”

Leaders of the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association (IHHA) and their constituents have been forced to think outside the box ever since corporate overlord Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) shut down the Chicago metropolitan area’s world-renowned Arlington International Racecourse following its 2021 meeting. It was a blatant attempt to eradicate pari-mutuel betting and potential casino competition for the nearby Rivers Casino — the state’s most profitable casino — in which CDI acquired a majority interest in 2018.

The domino effect was devastating for both thoroughbred and harness racing in Illinois. Hawthorne became the only racetrack in the nation’s third most populous metropolitan area and the two breeds have been time-sharing at the track since 2022.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2019 signed a massive gambling expansion bill that allowed both Hawthorne and Arlington to become racinos by adding table games and slot machines. Arlington was sold to the Chicago Bears with a ban on both racing and a casino strings attached and the NFL team demolished the historic state-of-the-art track to reduce its property taxes.

Meanwhile, Hawthorne president Tim Carey announced plans to remake his family’s track into a $400 million racino and open it in 2021. In pursuit of that objective large portions of the grandstand and clubhouse were torn down in 2020.

But Carey has been unable to secure financial backing for the racino and the rubble from the teardown now serves as a gloomy reminder of the unfinished project that was supposed to funnel a portion of the gross revenue from the slot machines and table games into the harness and thoroughbred purse accounts, creating an Illinois racing renaissance movement.

Compounding the racino funding dilemma, liens last year were filed by several companies involved in the demolition project, claiming Hawthorne owes them an aggregate total of about $5 million in unpaid bills, and later CDI halted simulcasts from its track for betting because of unpaid bills dating back to last fall. As a consequence of the blackout, horseplayers at Hawthorne and its 13 affiliated off-track betting locations were unable to place bets on the Kentucky Derby.

IHHA president Jeff Davis has made several trips to Springfield during the spring session of the state legislature that ends May 31 to join urging lawmakers to repeal the 35-mile limit, preventing another racetrack and racino from being built inside that boundary from Hawthorne.

“A lot of legislators were alarmed by Hawthorne’s lack of ability to have the [simulcast] signal on Kentucky Derby Day,” IHHA president Jeff Davis said, recounting his most recent visit. “I think that highlighted a major problem.

“I wish I could tell you it would motivate the legislators to move [and eliminate the 35-mile limit] but it certainly didn’t go unnoticed. We’re plugging away and we’re optimistic that legislators will see the need to act at this session.”

Another piece of proposed legislation in Springfield that the IHHA is backing is the attempt by Larry Lucas and his son, Connor, to obtain permission to build a racetrack/casino in Decatur.

“Between the two of them they’ve been in Springfield every week for the last few months and we are very supportive,” Davis said. “We have our whole team of lobbyists and they have their whole team of lobbyists.”

Decatur is a medium-sized city located 175 miles south of Hawthorne. It is located within driving distance of three prosperous and vibrant metropolitan areas: 49 miles from Champaign-Urbana (home of the University of Illinois), 39 miles from Springfield (the state capital), and 46 miles from Bloomington-Normal (home of Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University).

In contrast, the area in close proximity to Hawthorne isn’t very affluent and there is casino gambling competition galore. Hawthorne is only 11 miles from Bally’s temporary casino at Medina Temple in downtown Chicago. The new Wind Creek Casino in Hazel Crest and CDI’s Rivers Casino are both under 30 miles away. Two cities from 40-45 miles beyond the metropolitan area — Joliet and Aurora — are replacing their existing casinos with new showcases. There also are casinos in two other locations on the outskirts of Chicagoland; Elgin, approximately 45 miles from Hawthorne, and Waukegan, about 50 miles away.

If the long-awaited Hawthorne racino finally becomes reality some fear the Chicago market area may be oversaturated with casinos and its revenue conceivably could fall far short of the euphoric expectations of 2021.