Springfield, IL — The Illinois Racing Board at its February meeting granted a request by Suburban Downs at Hawthorne to vacate three Thursday night programs in March because of a horse shortage, but a track official told regulators the situation should improve for the 2023 winter meet and beyond.

Hawthorne, scheduled to race four nights a week in February and March, earlier was approved to drop four Thursday programs in February. The winter harness meet ends Sunday (March 20).

John Walsh, assistant general manager at Hawthorne, in January told the IRB there could be a request to race only three programs a week in March if the horse population did not increase. At the Feb. 17 meeting he told the IRB there are signs “the harness industry is picking up a little bit” given an increase in the number of yearlings in Illinois.

“We should be looking at a much higher number of horses ready to race (in the future),” Walsh said. “The last five or six years have been very difficult, but things are looking up.”

The Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association had no objections to the request to drop the three programs in March.

There is enthusiasm for the future in Illinois as Hawthorne was granted a casino license and also has expressed interest in pursuing a license for a new harness track with casino gambling. With Arlington Park out of the equation, Hawthorne will run two harness meets and two Thoroughbred meets this year, and probably in 2023.

In other business, the IRB approved a request from Hawthorne to assume operation of an off-track betting outlet in Rockford that had previously been run by Arlington. The IRB in December rejected Arlington’s request to continue operating select OTB facilities after it declined to apply for live racing dates in 2022.