The extent of Hawthorne Race Course's financial troubles, and with it the enormous ramifications for industry stakeholders in the state, were made glaringly clear during Wednesday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting.
On Monday, the racing board suspended 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.
According to representatives from the Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association (IHHA) who attended Wednesday's meeting, Hawthorne–which is owned and operated by the Carey family–is responsible for more than $580,000 in bounced checks between some 66 individuals in recent months.
With the 2026 Thoroughbred meet scheduled to begin March 29, representatives from the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) detailed both the sense of urgency with which they're seeking assurances from Hawthorne the meet can go ahead, as well as the consequences if it doesn't.
The ITHA alone is apparently owed around $600,000 from Hawthorne for payments dating back seven months.
“There's a very good chance that the last horse race in the Chicago area has been raced. Ever. Imagine that,” said ITHA executive director David McCaffrey. “Washington Park. Arlington. Maywood. There's a very good chance that it could be over.”
Rather than offer concrete assurances over a Thoroughbred meet this year, representatives from Hawthorne asked the commissioners and the attending stakeholders to put their trust in a vaguely detailed sense of optimism that a last-minute deal over the next few weeks could be cobbled together.
Specifics surrounding this alleged deal were in short supply.
Hawthorne president and general manager Tim Carey was scheduled to provide an update for the commission. He pulled out before Wednesday's meeting. In his place sat John Walsh, Hawthorne's assistant general manager.
“For the optimistic part of things, we have moved in a different direction in the last month and a half as far as getting these casinos and racinos up and running,” said Walsh.
“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. “Whatever's going to happen is going to happen in the next two or three weeks.”
The racing board did not ask about the identity of this alleged partner nor any substantive details about the purported deal. Walsh did not offer this information up voluntarily either.
At the same time, Walsh strongly suggested that if this alleged deal cannot come to fruition by Feb. 16–when the facility would need to switch over operations from harness racing to Thoroughbreds–Hawthorne's 2026 Thoroughbred meet would be effectively over.
“We will have something in place by that date… or we don't,” said Walsh. “If we don't turn over the track, I'm sure Tim will contact the board and just say where he is. But I just know things have to be done by then [Feb. 16]. They will be done. They have to be done.”
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.
Indeed, ITHA president Chris Block voiced during Wednesday's meeting what he described as “growing alarm” through the years “over Hawthorne's delays finalizing a deal to open and operate this casino. “Amidst those delays, we've seen the precipitous decline of racing in Hawthorne. In 2021, we had 909 horses on the backstretch. Last summer, we peaked at 635. A drop of nearly 30%. Just five years ago, Thoroughbred purses in Northern Illinois totaled $19.27 million. Last year, we ran for $8.6 million. A drop of more than 50%,” Block said.
And why should the industry trust that this time things will be different?
“When I say I'm optimistic, I think everything is going the right way,” said Walsh, who described himself as a natural pessimist. “At our February meeting, if we have one, I'll be here and I'll be smiling.”
The next scheduled IRB meeting is in March.
Peppered throughout the meeting were glimpses into the sheer scale of Hawthorne's financial mismanagement, and the toll it's having on the horsemen and women facing economic dire straits.
“We have some trainers in the audience that aren't eating because they're feeding the horses first,” said one Standardbred trainer during the public comment period.
“The horsemen who depend on Hawthorne for their livelihoods, who have not been paid since before Christmas, deserve to hear directly from the person responsible for that,” said Jeff Davis, the IHHA president, noting Tim Carey's failure to appear at the meeting.
“His absence I think is disrespectful not only to the horsemen but to you as a board,” Davis said, adding that there are some $414,000 in state funds “that remain inaccessible in Hawthorne's frozen accounts.”
During his presentation, Davis explained how he had just learned “Churchill Downs obtained a judgment against Hawthorne Race Course in December for $1.64 million.”
He added: “I'm not an attorney, but it was a judgment based on confession, they called it, which means they weren't, Hawthorne wasn't fighting that. They admitted it. And they owe it.”
Walsh appeared to refute Davis's assertions, but his response raised more questions than it answered.
“As far as the Churchill Downs settlement, it's not correct. There hasn't been a settlement. We haven't paid anybody anything. And the amount is not quite correct. It's much lower,” said Walsh.
Pressed by one of the commissioners, Walsh explained how he and other Hawthorne employees–like the clerks and security personnel–had continued to receive their salaries during this time. The banks, he said, were deciding seniority of payments.
“I'm never good with these. I'm never very good with speaking in public. However, I want to assure the horsemen that Hawthorne, its employees and the Carey family are disgusted by this turn of events. It was unexpected–Hawthorne would never decide to write checks that didn't go through,” Walsh said, at the opening of his remarks.
In a press release Monday, the racing board stated that it would consider reinstating the licenses of Suburban Downs, Inc. should they “cure the violations and provide documentation demonstrating they meet the minimum standards, including but not limited to its financial integrity, under the Act and rules contained in Title 11 of the Illinois Administrative Code.”
Block voiced his fears that the financial turmoil that has roiled the current harness meet at Hawthorne will bleed over into this year's scheduled Thoroughbred meet, if indeed it goes ahead.
“We want to race this year at Hawthorne. All our horsemen are looking forward to it. Only, I hope that Tim and his family are taking the necessary steps to create the correct financial conditions,” said Block.
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