Chicago-area racing in 2022 will be all Hawthorne, all the time.
With Arlington International Racecourse up for sale and track owner Churchill Downs Inc. declining to apply for racing dates, the Illinois Racing Board Sept. 23 approved a 2022 schedule that has Hawthorne Race Course hosting both Thoroughbred and harness racing. Barring a purchase of Arlington by an owner interested in continued racing or a change in CDI's plans, Arlington's last day of racing is Sept. 25.
The plan, developed with input from both horsemen's groups, provides for 76 Thoroughbred programs, a sharp drop from the 120 dates split between Hawthorne and Arlington in 2021, and for 75 Standardbred programs.
Hawthorne president Tim Carey acknowledged the reduction in racing days will be a hardship for horsemen but promised that, with Arlington out of the picture, Hawthorne's purse structure could increase from a daily average of some $105,000 to $165,000 for 2022, taking up some of the lost potential.
"The future of racing is very, very bright," Carey told the IRB. "There are skeptics who say racing is dead. They are wrong."
Carey said his family, which has operated Hawthorne through four generations, is spending $400 million in a rebuilding project that includes the construction of a casino authorized by the legislature in a 2019 gaming expansion bill. Amid competition, a lack of gaming revenue at tracks has contributed to a steady decline of Illinois racing and breeding for more than a decade.
"That obstacle is gone," Carey said. "Now we have the opportunity and we're going to seize it. We're investing $400 million in Hawthorne because we believe in the future of horse racing."
Carey also promised a rebuilt stakes schedule going forward that will be of sufficient quality to attract national attention and purse increases to as much as $300,000 a day once the track and casino are in full operation.
While horsemen enthusiastically praised Hawthorne's long commitment to racing, Mike Campbell, president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, said the industry is far from out of the woods.
"I wish I could be as optimistic as Tim is," Campbell said, noting casino contributions to purse accounts are at least two years away.
"I'm afraid we're going to have a sad ending here if we don't see some casino revenue soon to help out with these purses," he said.
Ultimately, Carey and representatives of both horsemen's groups said Illinois racing badly needs a new harness racino targeted for the south Chicago suburbs. It is held up because of political issues.
The Hawthorne Thoroughbred schedule includes racing from April 2 through June 25 and from Sept. 23 through the end of the year. Harness racing will take place between those dates. Hawthorne takes up and replaces the Thoroughbred racing surface when the action switches between the breeds.
The board approved a 61-day Thoroughbred schedule for FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing, a downstate track previously known as Fairmount Park, which also is building a casino and this year revived the long-dormant St. Louis Derby with a purse of $250,000. That 2022 meeting will run from April 19 to Sept. 24.
