Illinois Racing Board suspends harness racing license of Hawthorne Race Course amid financial strain
Two days after the Illinois Racing Board suspended the harness racing license for Hawthorne Race Course over financial strains, the course’s general manager said he’s confident they’ll have their long-stalled racino plan back on track soon.
The Stickney track has struggled to secure financing for its racino since the gambling law that passed in 2019 allowed the track to add casino games as a means to help save the floundering horse racing industry. Hawthorne has also been criticized by horse owners for holding the industry back because it has power under the gambling law to veto any potential new track within 35 miles of their 134-year-old suburban course.
Speaking Wednesday to the Illinois Racing Board, Hawthorne general manager John Walsh said he has “never been more optimistic in the last four years.” He said the track shifted course within the last couple months and is working with a new partner that is “nearby, someone who’s interested in… Illinois racing, who really wants all of this to succeed and move quickly.”
The Illinois Racing Board on Monday suspended the harness racing license for Suburban Downs, which operates Hawthorne, for its “failure to provide documentation demonstrating its financial integrity.” The board also recently canceled Jan. 3 and 4 races at the track for its failure to submit required surety bonds.
Illinois Racing Board executive director Domenic DiCera said the suspension was a "very difficult decision."
"Unfortunately, [Hawthorne's] financial difficulties, including failure to provide financial documents showing their ability to operate assigned 2026 race dates, have led us to suspend their license," DiCera said in a statement.
Horse owners say checks to them from previous races have been bouncing. Walsh, who spoke to the board instead of Suburban Downs owner and CEO Tim Carey, who was expected to be at the meeting but didn't show up, said Hawthorne and the Carey family feel “disgusted” about the “unexpected” turn of events.
“I just want all the horsemen to know we’re not happy about any of this and none of us are pleased,” Walsh said. “We’ve all been up night after night, working 12 hours a day, doing whatever we could to get this solved with our bank, because it’s an issue with our bank. We just wouldn’t write checks that were gonna bounce.”
Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association Executive Director Tony Somone said they’ve been contacted by 66 horse owners showing at least $580,000 in bounced checks from Hawthorne since August. He said his organization is “just about at our breaking point.”
“This is how we pay not only the [feed] and the vet, but how we pay our mortgages, right? How we make our car payments. This is what we use to live on,” Somone said.
Horse owner representatives and some board members still weren’t fully buying Hawthorne’s rosy picture that by a month from now it will be living up to the expectations the state put on it when the gambling bill passed in 2019. Some complained they’ve heard time and again over the five years since it got its license that the racino financing was just weeks away.
“We don’t need empty words. We need specifics. We need stuff that’s completely verified, and we need it in writing,” board chairman Dan Beiser said at the meeting’s conclusion.
Walsh said Hawthorne will “have something in place” by Feb. 16 that will have the track ready for harness racing that month and for the thoroughbred racing season scheduled to start March 29.
Hawthorne director of racing Jim Miller said the race course is on track for the thoroughbred race. They’ve received about 800 applications for stalls and the number of horses competing this year would be “very similar” to last year.
The Illinois Racing Board, however, postponed its vote to approve Hawthorne’s racing officials for the 2026 racing calendar to its March 18 meeting.