CHICAGO – The Illinois Racing Board on Monday, citing continuing unresolved financial concerns, suspended the state-issued license permitting Suburban Downs in near-suburban Chicago to operate a racetrack. Suburban Downs is the name Hawthorne Race Course uses to operate the Standardbred side of the track’s racing operations, and Monday’s action imperils Hawthorne’s Thoroughbred season, scheduled to span 63 racing days from late March through November. Hawthorne has spiraled financially for years, even after obtaining initial Illinois Gaming Board approval in 2019 to open and run an ontrack casino. The track, located in the village of Stickney immediately west and north of Chicago proper, began tearing down the eastern half of its grandstand during the fall of 2020 while targeting a casino opening in late 2021. But while 2021 saw the closure and razing of the only other functioning Chicago-area racetrack, Arlington Park, the Hawthorne casino never progressed beyond the first phase of demolition. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Season after season, year after year, Hawthorne officials insisted they remained committed to opening the casino and preserving the last vestiges of the shriveling Chicago racing circuit. By 2024, contractors were telling Chicago newspapers that Hawthorne owed millions of dollars in construction fees, even as Hawthorne continued to assert that it was on the verge of either partnering with an entity capable of moving the project forward or obtaining financing of its own. During 2025, some racing companies started withholding simulcast signals from Hawthorne, citing unpaid fees, and Hawthorne began its 2025 Thoroughbred season with a purse account about $13 million underwater. Officials from the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association last March questioned the viability of the meet if a state racing subsidy wasn’t funded July 1, and while that money came through, the ITHA by late this year cautioned its members to withdraw any money they had left in Hawthorne’s account. Though the Illinois Racing Board in September awarded Hawthorne racing dates for 2026, the situation came to a head early this month, when the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association reported that banks had refused to honor checks issued by Hawthorne. The IHHA and the Illinois Racing Board demanded Hawthorne provide proof that the track could continue funding racing, and cards scheduled for Jan. 3-4 were canceled. On Jan. 5, the IHHA posted on its website that Hawthorne and its offtrack betting parlors had reopened, but two days later issued a statement saying the upcoming weekend’s races had been abandoned. Races for Jan. 17-18 were drawn on Thursday, Jan. 16, but weekend cards again were canceled this past Friday after Hawthorne failed to provide the required assurances, leading to Monday’s suspension of the Suburban Downs license. The Illinois Racing Board hosts a regularly scheduled board meeting Wednesday, Jan. 28 and Tim Carey, Hawthorne’s president and general manager since 2005, is scheduled to testify. Hawthorne, in partnership with the company Fanatics, runs an online and bricks-and-mortar sportsbook – which contributes no money to racing – that isn’t affected by the license suspension. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports When the state granted Hawthorne permission to build and open a casino it also passed legislation giving the company veto power over any proposed new racecourse in a 35-mile radius of the track. Last fall, legislation was introduced that would overturn that veto power while permitting Hawthorne to operate just one race meeting a year. Fairmount Park still conducts Thoroughbred racing across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, but Hawthorne runs the last harness racing venue in Illinois, and the harness industry long has pushed for the construction of a new Standardbred venue in the Chicago region. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.