The Illinois Racing Board has agreed to delay the start of the Hawthorne Race Course Thoroughbred meeting from March 29 to April 19 as the track continues to dig its way through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
Track officials and horsemen said the delay will allow for the conversion of the racing surface for training, and for horsemen to ship in and prepare for competition.
Hawthorne president Tim Carey told the IRB at its March 18 meeting his commitment remains to implement a reorganization plan that will keep the track in operation, rather than sell the suburban Chicago land for redevelopment.
"The easiest thing to do right now is to take a bid and sell the property," Carey said.
Financial adviser David Campbell added, "We are going to have a Thoroughbred season. Without that, we would be having a very different discussion."
Hawthorne filed for bankruptcy protection Feb. 27, facing a mountain of debt and suspension of its harness racing license. Without cash and owing back payments to horsemen, the track obtained emergency authorization from the court to use part of a $16 million bankruptcy cash infusion to take necessary steps to resume operations. In the meantime, more than a month of preparation for the Thoroughbred meeting was lost.
Board members quizzed track officials for more than a half hour about plans and schedules for resuming operations, including whether Hawthorne can attract a sufficient number of horses to race its schedule.
Chris Block, president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, said his organization is working daily to spread the word that Hawthorne plans to race. He said about 180 to 200 horses are currently on the Hawthorne backstretch and "there are horsemen south of here, in New Orleans and Florida, waiting to come."
"I don't know about new stables but the ones who were here last year are coming back. We had a maximum of 650 head last year. I'm hoping we get to that again," Block said.
The next hearing in bankruptcy court is set for March 27 and will consider freeing more of the interim funding, including payment of about $2.5 million to harness horsemen, whose season was cut short Jan. 1.
