Cicero, IL – The Illinois Racing Board at its Sept. 18 meeting approved a 2026 Standardbred calendar for Suburban Downs at Hawthorne Race Course that is similar to that of 2025.
For this year, Hawthorne was scheduled for 46 live racing programs from Jan. 1-Feb.12 and Oct. 19-Dec. 30. For 2026, the harness dates are Jan. 3-Feb. 15 and Nov. 6-Dec. 27. There will be two nights of racing per week in early 2026, three nights a week in November, and two nights a week in December for a total of 34 dates, according to the schedule unanimously approved by the IRB.
Before the vote, which came after a lengthy recess, Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association president Jeff Davis, and Tony Somone, the organization’s executive director, told the IRB it’s critical for horsemen to have racing at least the last two weeks of October given the small window of racing opportunities for 2-year-olds in the latter part of the year. Davis noted that there were 423 Illinois-bred foals in 2024, which was down from prior years but about four times the number of Illinois-bred Thoroughbred foals the same year.
Somone said despite the challenges the industry faces in the state, the current $3.5 million purse overpayment isn’t growing. “We are racing within our means,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of horses (for racing) and Hawthorne won’t be overpaying purses this year and probably next year.”
For Sept. 18-19, Springfield was able to card 34 open and Illinois-restricted races.
Tim Carey, president and general manager of Hawthorne, said the track was unable to come up with a lease agreement with the state Department of Agriculture to offer extended pari-mutuel harness racing at the State Fair in Springfield in 2026. Carey said he intends to work again on having non-pari-mutuel race dates at Springfield, but a schedule won’t be known until a later date.
Hawthorne won the right to a casino in 2019, but the project has repeatedly stalled. Coupled with a decision by Churchill Downs Inc. not to apply for a casino license for Arlington Park and the subsequent closure of that facility after its 2021 meet, Illinois racing of both breeds has struggled greatly.
Carey told the IRB he anticipates having an announcement regarding progress on the casino front in the fourth quarter of this year, with the hope of opening a casino in the fourth quarter of 2027. “We’re in a very good place right now,” he said.
Davis noted that legislation to authorize a casino and harness track in the Decatur area could be revisited during the legislative veto session in Illinois this fall. “The current environment is clearly not cutting it,” he said. “Time is critical.”
On the Thoroughbred side, Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association executive director Dave McCaffrey said purses paid in 2022 totaled about $14 million. That figure dropped to $13 million in 2023, $11.5 million in 2024, and is projected to come in at $9 million this year.
“It’s already $2.5 million lower than this time last year,” McCaffrey told the IRB. “There is a readily available, legal (remedy) to our problems. It’s a racino.”
Hawthorne and Fairmount Park, which recently opened a temporary casino, were able to come to an agreement on dates. The IRB approved Hawthorne for 63 Thoroughbred dates and Fairmount for 57, with both tracks racing mostly from April through the end of October.