The 2026 Thoroughbred meet at Hawthorne is supposed to start in just over a month. The ominous wall of silence and uncertainty hanging over the track's future, however, is leaving the horsemen and women relying on the meet's go-ahead “extremely worried and concerned,” said Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) president Chris Block on Monday.
“We've implored the [Illinois Racing Board] executive director and the chairman [Daniel Beiser] that they get Hawthorne to the table. I'm hopeful that'll happen,” said Block, who estimated that there are currently around 175 Thoroughbreds stabled at the track, under the watch of about ten different trainers.
Both Block and ITHA executive director Dave McCaffrey, however, voiced frustration they've been unable to elicit any concrete details about whether the financing will be in place for the Thoroughbred meet to go ahead, and whether track operators have managed to nail down an agreement with investors to operate a casino.
“I don't know the details of where things stand on that, their pursuit to get their financing in place and the mess that they're in cleaned up,” he added.
In 2019, the state granted Hawthorne the go-ahead to convert its old grandstand into a casino. Since then, nothing concrete has materialized on that possibility despite repeated promises to the contrary by track operators.
At last month's racing board meeting, John Walsh, Hawthorne's assistant general manager, suggested once more that a deal was imminent.
“We're working with a new partner, someone nearby, someone interested in Illinois and Illinois racing, who really wants all of this to succeed and move quickly,” said Walsh, who stood in last minute for absent Hawthorne president and general manager, Tim Carey.
“Whatever's going to happen is going to happen in the next two or three weeks,” Walsh added, at the time.
Nearly a month later, “no one has ever called Dave McCaffrey or Chris Block over here and said, 'Hey, here's where things [definitively] stand,' which is really infuriating and frustrating to say the least,” said Block.
“Unfortunately as of today we have no additional information we can share, however, perhaps later in the week you are welcome to call for possible updates,” wrote Illinois Racing Board executive director Domenic CiCera in an email Monday, responding to a request for a status update.
The racing board did not respond to follow-up questions.
Over the weekend and into Monday, the TDN also made repeated attempts to contact Tim Carey, the track's CEO of Gaming Kevin Kline, director of racing Jim Miller, as well as Walsh. None of them responded.
If it goes ahead, Hawthorne's Thoroughbred meet is set to begin March 29. That's a big if, however.
At last month's racing board meeting, the extent of Hawthorne's financial troubles, and with it the enormous ramifications for industry stakeholders in the state, were made glaringly clear. The track's standardbred stakeholders have been the hardest hit.
The meeting followed the action of the state racing board to suspend the operating license of Suburban Downs, Inc., which manages Hawthorne's harness meet, for “failure to provide documentation demonstrating its financial integrity, and proof that they can meet the minimum standards” as outlined in state law.
Hawthorne is responsible for more than $580,000 in bounced checks between some 66 individuals in recent months, according to an Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association representative. The ITHA is apparently owned around $600,000 from Hawthorne for payments dating back seven months.
Some horsemen and women have also been unable to access monies in their horseman's bookkeeper accounts at the track. This includes earnings as well as funds put into the account in advance of the meet.
According to McCaffrey, the organization has retained an attorney to help free up those funds.
“There are a bunch of Thoroughbred people whose accounts are inaccessible,” said McCaffrey. “We've retained an attorney to protect the rights of our owners and trainers and jockeys and whoever has money over there.”
As for preparations to prepare the track for Thoroughbreds with the end of the Standardbred meet, Block explained that while the rail has been switched, the annual reconditioning of the track surface is moving along in slow-motion fashion.
“They normally contract that out to a company that brings in some heavy equipment-semi-trucks and tractor trailers-that they can use to expedite the process of putting the surface down,” said Block.
That hasn't happened. Instead, the usual track maintenance crew are using existing equipment, which is wholly inadequate for doing a quick job, said Block.
“That'll take forever to put that down with the little bit of equipment they have there,” said Block.
Last week, the ITHA issued an email to its constituents with the headline: “Past Time for Tim Carey to Address ITHA Members About Hawthorne's Financial Condition and Plans; Commit to Racing at Hawthorne at Your Own Risk.”
When asked what will happen to the horsemen and women and the horses currently stabled at Hawthorne if the meet doesn't go ahead, Block predicted some will likely move their shingle to Fairmount Park, in Southwest Illinois.
However, “there'll be some that will probably just step away. I don't think they're equipped to go anywhere else on the financial side of it,” said Block.
“I feel extremely sorry for these people. I mean, they're hardworking horsemen that have been in Chicago for their whole lives. Their homes are here. Their families are here. I think there's quite a bit of anxiety and concern,” said Block.
“I hear it daily. They want an update and I feel really bad that I can't give them any positive news right now. It's getting old to be honest with you, to tell them the same story week after week,” said Block, who suggested that some concrete answers about the upcoming meet need to be delivered by the end of February.
“That's why I implored the racing board that we need some more clarity than just what we're hearing here, and by the end of this week, so these horsemen can make some hard decisions,” he said.
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