Arlington Awarded 2021 Race Dates; Horsemen Remain Wary

The Illinois Racing Board has approved a 2021 racing schedule that splits live dates and revenue-producing dark days according to an agreement between Arlington International Racecourse and Hawthorne Race Course.

Horsemen, wary that Arlington's parent corporation, Churchill Downs Inc., may elect not to race in 2021 despite the board's unanimous approval of 68 dates, asked for protection for their purse account.

The Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association proposed withholding allocation of an estimated $4.5 million in "recapture" funds from Arlington pending actual racing at the suburban Chicago track in 2021. The IRB did not act on that proposal although chairman Daniel Beiser urged Arlington to seek reassurance from CDI that it will race.

The concerns stem largely from comments made by CDI's CEO, Bill Carstanjen, on a July 30 investor call. Carstanjen said Arlington would "run a 2020 race meet and we have an agreement to run a 2021 race meet, if we elect to do so."

"In the long term," Carstanjen said, "that land gets sold and that license will need to move if it's going to continue. And the time frame for doing that is not something I'm going to comment on in this call today."

Even before that statement, horsemen were concerned about CDI's intentions as a result of its abrupt about-face in 2019 on plans to implement casino wagering at the track. An Arlington casino was projected to pump millions of dollars into the purse account. 

Former ITHA board member Chris Block said Carstanjen's comments create uncertainty.

"Due to this comment by Mr. Carstanjen, I've been asked many times, 'Chris, what do you think?' I tried to assure them the management at Arlington Park intends on running. But the management at Arlington Park doesn't know what Churchill Downs is planning on doing," Block said.

Arlington president Tony Petrillo said CDI's commitment to run the 2021 dates will be its formal acceptance of the schedule approved at the Sept. 16 meeting. And tinkering with recapture, he said, "might cause a flurry of legal action."

Asked directly by Beiser if Arlington intends to conduct live racing in 2021, Petrillo said, "Yes, it is our intention … We do feel our responsibility to the industry."

ITHA executive director David McCaffrey countered, "If Arlington races 68 days next year, they would have gotten every nickel coming to them in recapture under my proposal. … If that is truly their intention, and they are truly going to do that, there should have been no pushback whatsoever."

With no conditions on the dates order, McCaffrey said, the racing board has no effective mechanism to prevent the recapture funds from going to Arlington whether it races or not.

Other than the uncertainty about whether it actually will take place, horsemen were pleased with the schedule that provides for live racing during 10 months of 2021 and stabling for the entire year—particularly since they suffered through the first eight months of 2020 without any Chicago-area live racing.

Hawthorne was awarded 2021 racing dates from March 6 through April 25 and Oct. 1 through Nov. 30. Arlington was granted dates from April 26 through Sept. 30.

Hawthorne was awarded dark host time revenue Jan. 1-2 and Arlington, from Jan. 3 through March 5. Beiser said, by an agreement between the tracks, Arlington will transfer to Hawthorne 50% of the dark time revenue from Jan. 3-22.

Petrillo and Hawthorne's John Walsh were mutually complimentary about their work toward that agreement.

Fairmount Park in downstate Collinsville was authorized 53 dates from April 27 through Sept. 6.