Report: Outlook for Hawthorne is grim at board meeting

At a meeting of the Illinois Racing Board on Wednesday, horsemen offered grim assessments of the situation Hawthorne Race Course finds itself in, and a track official suggested there's a glimmer of hope, according to media reports.

The meeting came after harness racing at the Chicago-area track was cancelled for four consecutive weeks. And the Illinois Racing Board on Monday suspended the license of Suburban Downs Inc., which manages Hawthorne's harness meet, for failure to provide documentation demonstrating its financial integrity and proof that it can meet required minimum standards.

At Wednesday's meeting, representatives from the Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association said the Carey family, which owns the track, bounced more than $580,000 in checks between about 66 individuals in recent months, according to a report by Thoroughbred Daily News.

And the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association is apparently owed about $600,000 from Hawthorne for payments dating back seven months, according to TDN.

ITHA executive director David McCaffrey said at the meeting, “There's a very good chance that the last horse race in the Chicago area has been raced.”

Hawthorne assistant manager John Walsh filled in for Hawthorne president and general manager Tim Carey, who was unexpectedly absent, according to the report. He said there is reason for hope as track officials have been working with a new partner about developing a racino at Hawthorne, an effort the track has been pursuing for years.

The potential partner wants to move quickly, Walsh said. “Whatever's going to happen is going to happen in the next two or three weeks.”

That's important because "things have to be done" by Feb. 16, Walsh said. That's when the facility would need to switch over operations from harness racing to Thoroughbreds.

Walsh said he is generally pessimistic but that “I think everything is going the right way,” according to the report. “At our February meeting, if we have one, I'll be here and I'll be smiling.”

Jeff Davis, president of the IHHA, said he had learned that Churchill Downs Inc. obtained a judgment for $1.64 million from Hawthorne in December, though Walsh said there hadn't been a settlement, according to the report.