Fair racing was good in Illinois

by Neil Milbert

Standardbred horseplayers in Illinois said a premature goodbye to pari-mutuel betting when mini-meetings were held at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield and the DuQuoin State Fair.

Rain that negatively impacted track conditions forced the cancelation of two programs at Springfield, but 12 races were held on Aug. 13, 19 on Aug. 19, and 18 on Aug. 21.

At DuQuoin there were 14 races on Aug. 31 and 13 on Sept. 1 and 2.

All the races at both venues were restricted to Illinois-breds.

According to Scott Halpin, who heads the Bureau of County Fairs and Horse Racing, the rainouts and short post times because of rainout day races being added to the second- and third-day programs at Springfield contributed to a decline in total handle from 2025, “but the daily numbers were not far off.”

The on-track and all-source totals for the two tracks: Springfield day one, $19,591 and $61,042; day two, $46,269 and $111,447; day three, $28,768 and $115,386; DuQuoin day one, $16,501 and $76,312; day two, $13,402 and $95,232; day three, $40,101 and $72,020. (All source includes Illinois and out-of-state locations.)

Pari-mutuel betting on both harness and thoroughbred racing in the Chicago metropolitan area ended in July when the last surviving track, bankrupt Hawthorne Race Course, ended its thoroughbred meeting nearly four months early and the 119-acre property was sold to a real estate developer.

All 14 Suburban Downs harness programs scheduled for January and February were canceled as a consequence of Hawthorne’s bounced checks and inability to pay purses and the November-December meeting cannot be held because the track is no longer in business.

The only remaining track in Illinois is Fairmount Park in Collinsville, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, which has thoroughbred racing and casino gambling.

Purses at Springfield ranged from a low of $4,000 on Aug. 19 to a high of $23,925 on Aug. 21.

Wyatt Avenatti was the champion driver at Springfield with 12 winners followed by Marcus Miller with six and Kyle Husted with five. Miller and Husted raced only one day.

The champion trainer was Tom Simmons with seven winners followed by Jamaica Patton with five.

Miller and Simmons collaborated when Fox Valley Tamara won the richest race of the meeting, the $23,925 second division of a race for 3-year-old filly pacers on Aug. 21.

Perennial Chicago driving champion Casey Leonard and his father, trainer Terry Leonard were conspicuous by their absence from the State Fairs as were another high-profile father-son combo, trainer Brett Wilfong and driver Kyle Wilfong. Leonard is driving in Minnesota at Running Aces, while the Wilfongs are part of the Illinois diaspora at Hoosier Park.

But the meetings still had some star quality performers thanks to some appearances by Miller and his father, trainer Erv Miller, and Husted and his wife, trainer Amy Husted.

At DuQuoin, Marcus Miller topped the driver standings with his single day total of seven winners. Avenatti was second with six and Kyle Husted with four.

Cole Prather and Simmons deadlocked for the trainer title with six winners apiece.

DuQuoin’s purses went from a high of $41,000 on Sept. 1 to a low of $4,000 on Sept. 2.

With Marcus Miller doing the driving for Erv, The Monster lived up to his name by putting on the most powerful performance of the two mini-meetings in the $41,000 Governor’s Cup, overwhelming seven opponents in winning the Governor’s Cup for 2-year-old colt and gelding trotters by 12 lengths in 1:53.3.

The second richest race at the two fairs was the $40,550 Dudley Hanover for 3-year-old male pacers, also on Sept. 1. Trained by Simmons and driven by Avenatti, Keyser Soze defeated seven foes in winning by one length in 1:51.1.

The only other race at the fairs with a purse exceeding $23,925 was the $39,200 Pronto Don for 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters on Sept. 1. The winner by 2¾ lengths in 1:54.4 was Go Go Chrome with Juan Franco at the reins for trainer Jamaica Patton. There were seven contestants.

FINISH LINES: The only remaining event on the Illinois racing calendar is the non-betting Day of Champions at the Springfield Fairgrounds on Sept. 23.

This Illinois-bred extravaganza is the successor to defunct Hawthorne’s Night of Champions, which was a scaled-down version of Super Night, which was a smashing success at now-defunct Sportsman’s Park when it was introduced in 1989 and continued to be extremely popular after moving to Balmoral Park where it was held from 2000-2015.