The dictionary defines kiosk as ”a kind of open pavilion common in Turkey and Persia and imitated elsewhere.”
Defined at Sportsman`s Park, where the 1990 Chicago thoroughbred season will begin Friday, it means a redesigned and remodeled first-floor grandstand that gives the racetrack the trappings of a Las Vegas casino.
”If people have been to Las Vegas and bet the horses at the big hotels they`ll recognize the similarity as soon as they come in,” said Stormy Bidwill, president of thoroughbred racing at Sportsman`s.
”It`s a million-dollar project, and it`s part of a big effort on our part to get people coming back to the track.”
There are seven kiosks, decorated in forest green and white and offering as their focal points gigantic television monitors. There are 33 TV sets with 50-inch screens, plus 112 more sets with 25-inch screens.
The renovated grandstand is one of Bidwill`s two major endeavors to persuade people to get into the habit of playing the horses at Sportsman`s during the final decade of the 20th century. His other lure is free grandstand admission and general parking for the entire meeting running through May 8.
The law permits tracks to levy a one percent surcharge on winning bets if they adopt the free-admission policy, but in an attempt to encourage the high rollers to stay at the track Sportsman`s will not have a surcharge.
Another innovation is the Super Trifecta. It`s a $1 bet requiring horseplayers to pick the 1-2-3 finishers in the fourth race in exact order and the 1-2-3-4 horses in the fifth race in exact order.
If no ticket has been sold with all seven winners, those who had the 1-2-3 horses in the fourth will share the trifecta pot for that race.
And, more important for those in pursuit of the big payoff, the net pool from the fifth race will be pumped into the jackpot for the next day.
Artistically, it`s tough to present consistently high-quality racing during the months of February and March in a cold climate.
Sportsman`s track crew excels at keeping the racing surface in the best possible condition when Old Man Winter shows his surly side.
Both the maintenance people and horsemen who stayed in Illinois after the 1989 thoroughbred season ended Dec. 31 have gotten a big break because of the unseasonably warm temperatures and the absence of snow. Many of the runners who have remained will be rested and ready to take advantage of a falloff in form by horses shipped from tracks in the south.
In drafting last year`s schedule, the Illinois Racing Board had both Sportsman`s and Balmoral conducting meetings at the outset of the season when horses are the hardest to come by. Balmoral was hurt most because it had to curtail its schedule when the shortage became acute. But there also was an impact at Sportsman`s.
Nevertheless, Sportsman`s averaged $932,581 in betting on-track. Wagering at nine intertrack and off-track sites pushed the total daily average to $2,008,546.
In the interim, two more OTB outlets have opened-in North Aurora and in the Chicago Theatre building in the Loop. Their presence probably means higher total daily handles for the meeting. But they also provide two more alternatives for people who want to bet and watch the races but not necessarily at the track.
In Chicago racing, Sportsman`s stakes program is second only to that of Arlington International Racecourse. Although it is only 5/8ths of a mile in circumference and doesn`t have a grass course, Sportsman`s consistently attracts national brandnames for its major races in April and May.
Four of the stakes are graded. The $300,000-added Illinois Derby for 3-year-olds, scheduled for May 5, is a Grade II race. Its major prep, the $75,000-added Nash Memorial on April 14 has been elevated to Grade III status this year. The Nash joins two holdover Grade III races-the $225,000-added National Jockey Club Handicap for older horses on April 28 and the $250,000-added Sixty Sails Handicap for fillies and mares on May 4.
In addition to the four graded races, Sportsman`s has three other siginificant stakes: the Doublrab Handicap, a sprint for 3-year-olds and up that will be Chicago`s first $100,000-added race this season March 10; the $75,000-added Bidwill Memorial Handicap for 4-year-olds March 31; and the $150,000-added National Jockey Club Oaks for 3-year-old fillies April 7.
Augmenting the 22 stakes races at the meeting will be an extensive schedule of betting simulcasts of 17 major events from throughout the nation. Ten are prep races for the Kentucky Derby.
