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player ready...Hawthorne Race Course is for sale, and will reopen for thoroughbred racing this spring despite recently filing for bankruptcy, officials told the Illinois Racing Board.
The plan to resume operations came despite a request from harness racing operators for the board to revoke the track’s thoroughbred license following the board’s suspension of harness racing earlier this year. Illinois Harness Horse Racing Association Executive Director Tony Somone told the board Wednesday that his members are owed some $2.5 million in frozen or unpaid funds that are required by law.
“Illinois Harness Horsemen have been frozen out of their bank accounts with Hawthorne Racecourse for months because of financial failure at the racetrack,” the horsemen’s association said in a statement last week. “Horsemen have been unable to pay for basic living expenses like medical care, mortgages, and food.”
The horsemen accused the board of being “negligent” in its duty to protect the racing industry, noting it did not hold a meeting last month in the midst of the crisis. Board members did not respond to the accusations, but are in a difficult position because Hawthorne is the only track keeping the industry alive in the Chicago area.
Hawthorne had stalled for years on plans to open a combination race track and casino, or racino, first in the south suburbs, and then at its current facility in west suburban Stickney. Track President and CEO Tim Carey repeatedly promised that the track was about to close a deal to build a racino, but with mounting financial troubles, was never able to get financing.
The track did get authorization for up to $8 million to continue operations, and is seeking a line of credit up to $16 million, attorney Barry Chatz told the board.
This weekend, workers will convert the track from a hard surface used for harness racing to dirt used for thoroughbred racing. Horses are to begin training next week. Because of delays due to the bankruptcy, the board pushed back the racing season from March 20 to April 19.
Chatz said track officials were optimistic they could get through the crisis by selling to the highest bidder, but said they want to continue racing, and won’t simply sell the land for some other use.
“We are getting lots of offers,” he said. “We understand people’s disappointment… The recapitalization process will pay the creditors — that is our goal.”
Despite the promises, Somone said he has “no hope” that harness racing will be able to resume at the track in November.
Another major concern is for the future of the workers who live at the track. The backstretch is home to 450 people, including 150 children, Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association Executive Director David McCaffrey said. Many of the workers are out of jobs because of a shortage of horses.
The bankruptcy judge approved funding to pay workers at the track, and a loan which allowed thoroughbred horse people to access their accounts and allowed previously bounced checks to be made good, McCaffrey said.
But the money will only last about three months, so by about July, McCaffrey predicted, Hawthorne will either be in the process of being sold completely or in a partnership, or it will be closed.
“It’s a very tense time,” McCaffrey said. “We are on the edge, and everyone knows it, and it’s very scary.”