If the Illinois Racing Board approves, Arlington Park will move its burned-out thoroughbred meeting to Hawthorne Race Course.
”It looks about 95 percent certain that the meeting (which is scheduled to continue through Sept. 30) will resume Monday,” Joseph Joyce, Arlington`s president, said Thursday.
”The 5 percent is due to the uncertainty in obtaining tote equipment
–which is being gathered from all over the country and being shipped here. And, while we`ve agreed with Hawthorne, there`s a racing board meeting
(Friday), and they have to approve this thing.
”There conceivably could be some opposition from the harness track in that area (Sportsman`s Park).”
There will be. Billy Johnston, president of harness racing operations at Sportsman`s, confirmed that he will ask the board to reject the move.
”By Arlington Park coming to Hawthorne, they are hurting the racing industry in Illinois,” said Johnston. ”The only beneficiary is the insurance company that was foolish enough to take out that kind of policy on Arlington Park.”
The policy covers possible losses in addition to replacement value.
”Harness horsemen and Sportsman`s Park are being injured by Arlington coming to Hawthorne,” Johnston said.
To support his arguments against the transfer, Johnston cited findings of fact by the board staff, presented at last September`s hearings for 1985 dates. The board findings concluded:
”The 1983 and 1984 experiments were not a success, and the board has concluded the overlapping race meetings at Hawthorne Race Course and Sportsman`s Park should not be allowed.
”In recent years the number of racing dates in the Cook County area has increased annually as the board has experimented with increased Sunday racing and double-headers at Sportsman`s Park. Those experiments were designed to increase state revenue from racing.
”Experience, however, indicates that such increases in racing dates in the Cook County area have not created the anticipated increases in state revenue and that the market appears to be saturated.”
Racing Board statsistics show that betting at Arlington had risen 7.7 percent and attendance had gone up 4.5 over last year before the Midwest`s premier plant was destroyed by Wednesday`s fire. In contrast, Sportsman`s had fallen 4.8 percent in handle and 6.9 percent in attendance.
”Sportsman`s Park has been hit by the lottery and by thoroughbred competition from Balmoral to the south and Arlington Park to the north,” said Johnston. ”Now, if this goes through, we`ll have one racing against us at night (Balmoral) and our next-door neighbor (Hawthorne) competing against us during the day.
”Not only that, we`ll also lose intertrack betting on the thoroughbreds if they move to Hawthorne. Instead of the profitable intertrack betting that helps both the harness horsemen and Sportsman`s, we`ll have racing next door and no benefit in return.
”There are other viable proposals that don`t hurt people. It isn`t like there are no other opportunities for thoroughbred racing in Chicago. The quality at Balmoral would improve, and so would the crowds and the handle, if the horses went there.”
Dan Groth, Balmoral`s vice president and general manager, is taking a neutral position. ”I`m confident the board can work it out for the benefit of the entire industry,” said Groth.
Bill Bissett, executive director of the racing board, has suggested another alternative–holding nonbetting races on the track at Arlington, which is undamaged, and simulcasting them for wagering.
Johnston likes that idea. ”You could even put up big tents and have live betting at the track in a county fair atmosphere,” said Joyce. ”Freehold
(N.J.) did it last summer after the grandstand was burned down, and the people loved it. All it requires is some work and ingenuity.”
Joyce is against it. ”We studied it, and it`s an economic disaster,” he said. ”It just doesn`t work.”
In contrast to Johnston, Hawthorne managing director Tom Carey was sympathetic to Arlington`s plight. ”I wish it wasn`t this way,” Carey said. ”When I saw the track burning on TV yesterday everything flashed back that happened seven years ago (when Hawthorne was destroyed by fire). We will do everything we can for Arlington and the horsemen.”
The fate of mid-America`s premier race, the Aug. 25 Arlington-Budweiser Million, remains unresolved. ”Our agreement with Hawthorne covers all of our dates with the exception of the Million,” said Joyce. ”We`ll do everything possible to preserve that race. We`d like to preserve it in the state of Illinois. That may or may not be possible. We hope by Monday we`ll have some definitive word.”
Joyce had some good news for his track`s full-time and temporary employees. If the move to Hawthorne is approved, ”all of the employees at Arlington will continue to be employed,” he promised. ”Nobody will lose their job.”
