Hawthorne to Cancel Spring 2020 Meet to Build Casino

Hawthorne Race Course will not conduct live Thoroughbred racing in the spring of 2020 while it builds casino and sports-betting facilities, leaving a nearly four-month gap in the Chicago-area schedule.

"This is going to be a hardship for Thoroughbred horsemen," said David McCaffrey, executive director of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. "But it's a short-term pain, long-term gain situation, and Hawthorne has pledged to work with us while we get through it."

For the past several years, Hawthorne and Arlington International Racecourse have coordinated schedules that included live cards at Hawthorne from late winter until early May and again from October through December with Arlington filling the middle six months of the year. The 2020 applications leave a hole in the schedule between Jan. 4 at Hawthorne and Arlington's April 27 opening day. 

McCaffrey said Hawthorne plans to do construction work during daylight hours and conduct harness racing at night during the first half of 2020 to get its casino and sports-betting facilities up and running as quickly as possible.

"It's a hardship, and our members will have to do some creative planning," he said.

Hawthorne officials could not immediately be reached for further comment on their plans.

But once revenue starts to flow into purse accounts from the gaming operations, he said, horsemen could start to see substantial benefits by the time Hawthorne's fall meeting opens and even more purse hikes in 2021.

While the track will not be available for training during the downtime, McCaffrey said Hawthorne is working to keep open as much human housing on the backstretch as possible. He said the track for many years has participated in a program to facilitate attendance at local schools by some 250 children living on the grounds and wants to keep that going.

"We appreciate that very much," he said.

McCaffrey added that horsemen hope Arlington will, "in its own best interest," open its track for training as early as possible in the spring of 2020 so horses can be prepared for the first part of the Arlington season.

The disruption is caused by new state legislation authorizing casino wagering and sports betting at the state's three existing tracks. Hawthorne and Fairmount Park, in downstate Collinsville, are moving ahead quickly with plans to install slot machines and table games. Churchill Downs Inc.-owned Arlington has not yet announced its intentions. Casino gaming applications are due in late August.

During a Churchill Downs Inc. conference call Aug. 1, CEO Bill Carstanjen declined comment on any plans at Arlington. He said the company hasn't finalized plans so he didn't want to comment. He noted that there are a lot of balls in the air right now in the Chicago area in terms of casino gaming taking shape there and the company wants to gather as much information as it can.

"We as a company will be prepared to meet all deadlines under the law," Carstanjen said.