Still no resolution to Arlington dates dispute

CHICAGO – Two days after both parties said they had the framework in place to sign an agreement that would permit a 2020 race meet, Arlington and the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association still had failed to come to terms late Friday on a contract governing the 2020 and 2021 racing seasons.

Arlington emailed customers and posted on social media Wednesday afternoon that the Churchill Downs Inc.-owned racetrack had “reached a tentative agreement” with the ITHA, and ITHA representatives were quoted as saying they thought a deal was imminent. The contract was expected to be signed before a Thursday morning meeting of the Illinois Racing Board, which would have approved an abbreviated 30-day meet starting July 24, but two issues regarding the 2021 season were left unresolved.

The meeting was recessed until 1 p.m. Friday, but even after further negotiations mediated by IRB commissioner Thomas McCauley and executive director Domenic DiCera, Arlington and the ITHA hadn’t come to terms. The meeting was recessed again until later Friday afternoon, but the ITHA said Arlington had presented new and confusing proposals during the day and they required more time to review their options and asked for another recess. The IRB granted that request and will resume – for the third time – their meeting Monday morning.

Terms for the 2020 meet, which will have no open stakes races, are set and not a point of contention, but ITHA representatives said Thursday that two issues regarding 2021 held up an agreement. One concerned language taking into account the possibility of Arlington being awarded far fewer racing days next year, the other aimed at determining how projections for future purse revenue were to be calculated.

The ITHA has proposed a one-year agreement but Arlington said it requires a two-year deal. Arlington president Tony Petrillo said in a text message Thursday that Arlington planned to host the Arlington Million again in 2021. Horsemen are concerned that large expenditures for open stakes races deplete the purse account to favor out-of-state horsemen and owners at the expense of locals who benefit from a stronger overnight purse structure.

The generation and distribution of purse money would create much less contention had Arlington and CDI applied for a casino license, as Hawthorne Racecourse and Fairmount Park did, when the chance arose last summer. Hawthorne has agreed to defer their recapture (money deducted from the purse account through a formula developed when full-card simulcasting was introduced to Illinois in the mid-1990s) and committed to running a fall 2020 Thoroughbred meet with the promise of future casino revenue. Fairmount Park also resumed operations this month following a COVID-19 forced shutdown.

David McCaffrey, executive director of the ITHA, testified in the early-afternoon session of the meeting that his organization had sent a contract proposal to Arlington at 9 a.m. Friday. Told just after the meeting started that Arlington had sent back the ITHA a signed, counterproposal, McCaffrey stopped briefly, checked his email, and testified that Arlington’s signed proposal had arrived at 1:08, after the 1 p.m. meeting’s start.

Kerry Lavelle, attorney for the ITHA, said during the later session of the meeting that Arlington and CDI had attempted to introduce new provisions during the afternoon negotiations after first sending copies of the contract that failed to make clear proposed changes from earlier versions.

Local horsemen now are left waiting another weekend to determine whether there’s any reason to come back to Chicago this summer.