Hawthorne will ask Illinois Racing Board to reduce dates
CHICAGO - Hawthorne Race Course will petition the Illinois Racing Board to return to two-day race weeks for the remainder of it’s ongoing spring 2022 race meeting.
Hawthorne ran two-day weeks in April, averaging just 6.46 starters per race during from April 1 to May 2. The Chicago-area track then added Sundays to its Friday to Saturday schedule and since has seen the starters-per-race number fall to 6.21. Hawthorne field size has been negatively impacted by a late spring and rainy weather that has limited use of the turf course to eight races so far this year.
John Walsh, assistant general manager, confirmed Hawthorne planned to bring the reduced schedule before the IRB at the Board’s regularly scheduled May meeting this Thursday. Walsh said the hope was to implement the change this week, dropping Sunday racing, but that Hawthorne planned to add races to the remaining cards at a meet that ends June 25. If the IRB approves the request, 13 racing days would remain. Hawthorne has generally run eight-race cards this year, though some programs have gone with just seven races. Walsh said cards would include at least 10 races if the plan is approved.
Hawthorne hosts a summer harness racing meet and has no Thoroughbred racing between June 25 and Sept. 23. Arlington, under the auspices of parent company Churchill Downs Inc., is shuttered this year and widely expected never to reopen, as CDI and the Chicago Bears National Football League franchise have entered into a purchase agreement (far from closing) through which the Bears would acquire the Arlington property and move the team from its longtime home in downtown Chicago.