Illinois tracks apply for 2026 but are not specific with dates
Illinois tracks made applications for racing dates next year, but the early paperwork turned in by Thursday’s deadline did not offer many clues to whether overlapping meets at Hawthorne near Chicago and Fairmount Park near St. Louis will be separated.
The Illinois Racing Board said in a news release that Hawthorne applied for the entire calendar year and that Fairmount put in a request for March 6 through Nov. 21. The IRB also received a full-year application from Hawthorne to run standardbred races under its harness brand Suburban Downs.
Hawthorne | Fairmount Park
“Applicants will be able to amend their applications to address any deficiencies and provide clarification on requested live race dates, if needed,” the IRB said in the news release. “The racing board will consider the applications at its meeting on Sept. 18.”
As one source put it, “Usually, both sides submit a very wide-sweeping, vague proposal in July and firm it up by September.”
That same source, who is involved in the planning, told Horse Racing Nation that it is “very possible most overlap can be eliminated,” adding that stakeholders from the two tracks “held a Zoom conference (Tuesday) morning with all of the principles involved. It was very productive and encouraging.”
This year Hawthorne has run Thoroughbred races Thursdays and Sundays on a schedule that started March 27 and ends Nov. 2. Fairmount runs Tuesdays and Saturdays in a meet that opened April 22 and will close Oct. 28.
“Overlapping race dates between tracks is just not efficient. It’s harmful,” board member Patty Saccone said at the IRB’s July 17 meeting. “It divides our already strained horse population, forces trainers to choose between venues and dilutes the quality of both racing programs. When Illinois competes with itself, we lose all ground.”
Sources say the negotiations between Hawthorne and Fairmount could lead to meets being run in alternating blocks so that one track at a time is active for a period of weeks before the other one takes its turn.
“Both locations are still working on their dates requests,” Hawthorne racing director Jim Miller said Wednesday.
Saying it was not definite yet, one source has said Fairmount may ask to race Tuesday and Wednesdays next year rather than Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Hawthorne’s harness meet runs when the Thoroughbreds do not. This year the standardbreds ran Saturdays and Sundays in January and February. They are scheduled to return Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Nov. 7 through Dec. 28.