Last rites for Hawthorne?

by Neil Milbert

The standardbreds and thoroughbreds who have been on the Chicago metropolitan area’s endangered species list for the last five years appear to be on the verge of becoming extinct.

The reason is because there were no bidders for the area’s only remaining racetrack, bankrupt Hawthorne Race Course, when an auction was held on July 13.

That means the earlier $90 million “stalking horse” bid by ALLIMAC is the only offer, and the secrecy-shrouded Delaware shell corporation’s plans call for the 119 acres in south suburban Stickney to be used for real estate development rather than continuing racing and adding a casino component.

Hawthorne’s creditors reportedly are in the neighborhood of 250 and the total amount owed by the Carey family-owned track is estimated at $138 million.

Judge Timothy Barnes’ final sales hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Northern Illinois is scheduled for July 20.

It seems unlikely that the Hawthorne thoroughbred meeting that began April 19 and is scheduled to run through Nov. 1 will be completed and it’s almost certain that the track’s Suburban Downs harness affiliate won’t have any racing this year.

The thoroughbred meeting has shrunken to Sunday only programs. Fields have been small and purses paltry.

All 14 of the harness programs scheduled for January and February were wiped out because of Hawthorne’s inability to pay purses and other bills and the Illinois Racing Board suspended Suburban Downs’ license on Jan. 26. The now-highly unlikely Suburban Downs fall meeting is scheduled for Nov. 6-Dec. 27.

If, as expected, Hawthorne discontinues racing, the only track remaining in Illinois will be Fairmount Park, which conducts thoroughbred racing and racino gambling in Collinsville, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.

Hawthorne received permission from the Illinois Racing Board to become a racino in 2020 (a year after casino wagering was permitted at racetracks as part of a big Illinois gambling expansion law). Track president Tim Carey announced plans for a $40 million racino addition and a portion of the grandstand soon was demolished.

But then the project stalled. Despite Carey’s repeated assurances before the Racing Board during the next six years that “we’re right on the cusp” of finding a partner it never came to fruition.

In the early 1970s Hawthorne was one of seven tracks in the Chicago metropolitan area. The others were Maywood Park, which inaugurated pari-mutuel harness racing in Illinois in 1946; the tradition-rich thoroughbred track Arlington Park; Sportsman’s Park; Washington Park (Arlington’s sister track); Balmoral Park; and Aurora Downs.

Hawthorne is one of North America’s oldest tracks, dating back to May 20, 1891. Four years later betting on races was banned in Illinois. Thomas Carey (great grandfather of Tim Carey) bought the track in 1909 and after three unsuccessful attempts to revive racing was in the forefront in getting the ban repealed in the early 1920s.

Harness racing made its debut at Hawthorne in the spring of 1970.

In 1995 an all-time Illinois high was wagered on a combined total of 516 harness programs at Hawthorne, Sportsman’s, Maywood, and Balmoral.

In stark contrast, it’s almost certain that in Illinois this year that pari-mutuel betting on the standardbreds will be limited to five August programs at the State Fair in Springfield and three at the DuQuoin State Fair at the end of August and the first week in September.