from the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Assn.

Editor’s Note: The following has been posted on the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association website in regards to Maywood Park’s request to vacate live racing beginning Oct. 8.

Just when it seemed that the future for Illinois harness racing could not possibly get any cloudier, it did. At Thursday’s (Aug. 27) Illinois Racing Board meeting, a request submitted by Maywood Park for approval to vacate live racing on Thursdays and Fridays beginning Oct. 8 was granted.

Illinois Racing Board staff recommended approving the request.

After hearing testimony from the racetracks, who were seeking the approval to vacate and the IHHA, who was opposed to the closing, the ten commissioners who participated in the meeting then voted. The vote was five to five. Majority is needed to grant the request. It appeared that the motion had failed.

However, general counsel for the IRB, citing a rule from “the open meetings act,” then announced that because Commissioner Byrne was participating by telephone her vote could not be counted. When staff and all commissioners were pressed about that rule, no one could ever remember that rule ever being enforced and could cite many, many examples of votes being counted telephonically throughout the years.

Because of this ruling, hundreds of horsemen, racetrack employees and state employees will lose their jobs.

Maywood Park Racetrack testified that they would save $165,000 in the last quarter of the year by doing this. Horsemen will lose the opportunity to race for approximately $1 million during that time period and hundreds of jobs will be lost.

Maywood and Balmoral Park are currently operating under the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court and before this Racing Board decision becomes final, it must be approved by that court.

Stay tuned.

For more specific answers to all of your questions, please come to an open horsemen’s meeting on Tuesday (Sept. 1) at 7 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel in Alsip.

— Tony Somone, IHHA Executive Director