The entry of Two Phil's into Saturday's Kentucky Derby may have been a bright spot in an otherwise bleak landscape for the Illinois horse racing industry.
In March, Tim Carey, Hawthorne's president and CEO, pleaded with state lawmakers to preserve his track's veto power over the opening of any new harness track within 35 miles, amid a new consortium's proposal for just that in Richton Park. "Horse racing loses money," Carey declared."We're losing millions a year keeping this agribusiness -- horse racing -- viable. ... We stepped up. Arlington's not around. Maywood and Balmoral's not around. Sportsman's Park isn't around. And so we're trying to build a racing industry."
That's what everyone in the industry -- racetrack executives, horse owners, trainers and breeders -- has been hoping for. Revenues from the casino games would be funneled into the purse accounts of horsemen and help them compete with other states that have adopted that model long ago, they contend. Kevin Kline, the track's CEO of gaming, told the Illinois Gaming Board in March that a year ago officials were reevaluating the construction budget as the war in Ukraine began, inflation accelerated, the supply chain was disrupted and interest rates rose.
Since the closure of Arlington, a number of local owners and trainers have migrated to Indiana to enter their horses in races, with a few also in Ohio and Kentucky, Block said. This year, the horse stock at the Hawthorne backstretch is 815, down from 1,000 at Arlington.The combined purse account at Arlington and Hawthorne was $19 million in 2019. Now, the horsemen are running for $12 million.