When Dick Duchossois announced last fall that he would close Arlington International Racecourse, one of America’s premier horse-racing venues, many doubted his word.
And when Duchossois padlocked his palatial grandstand a month later, there were those who said he would be back in a year.
It was a ploy, they suggested, to win concessions from the state. He would reopen once Illinois officials promised to loosen regulations on the horse racing industry or allowed slot machines at Duchossois’ Arlington Heights track.
But Arlington’s chief executive officer, Scott Mordell, on Friday largely put to rest any speculation that Duchossois was crying wolf.
“Racing is not feasible here anymore,” Mordell said. “We’re not planning on coming back here.”
Horses won’t run again at Arlington unless dramatic changes occur on Illinois’ political landscape and within the state’s horse racing industry, Mordell said. And while track operators “know enough never to say never,” Mordell said, it appears unlikely that such changes will occur in the foreseeable future.
As a result, Duchossois’ operating team is focused on finding a non-racing use for the 326-acre site in Arlington Heights.
“We’re trying to explore every option to keep this organization together and utilize this facility,” Mordell said. “We’d love to see racing come back here, but we’re not planning on it.”
Donna Alexander, who lives two blocks away from Arlington in Rolling Meadows, summed up the feelings of many about a track that, in one form or another, has stood in Arlington Heights since 1927.
“Some people didn’t want it around, but they’re losing something, and they don’t know it,” she said, while sipping a beer at Jimmy D’s Tavern, across from the track. “It brings in revenue, and you can’t turn that down.”
Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder said: “There are people out there who always felt that the track was going to open again, and they didn’t take the announcement that the track was going to close seriously.
“It’s human nature that people take a lot of things in their lives for granted. But businesses have to make business decisions, and that’s exactly what occurred here.”
Ed Duffy, a former chief executive at Arlington and now chief executive officer at Sportsman’s Park in Cicero, agreed.
“None of us wants to see Arlington completely out of the picture, but that is a decision he (Duchossois) has to make,” Duffy said.
Duchossois closed his track in October, saying he had already lost $70 million over the past decade and was unable to compete with the fast-paced, year-round gambling available on Illinois’ riverboat casinos.
But doubts grew because he had made a similar threat in 1994, only to change his mind at the last minute.
Since Duchossois’ fall announcement, however, it has become clear that it would take a lot to reopen Arlington. Mulder told a gathering of northwest suburban business leaders Thursday that she expected the track to remain closed at least through 1999.
And an extended closing apparently was something to which Duchossois himself was long resigned.
On one of the final race days at Arlington last fall, Duchossois was asked about the prospects of reopening his track after just one year in mothballs.
“It would take a miracle,” he said. “And I don’t believe in miracles.”
One factor that Duchossois was expected to assess while his track was closed was whether Illinois’ next governor–who will be chosen this November–might be more sympathetic to Arlington’s situation than Gov. Jim Edgar.
Edgar vehemently opposed Duchossois’ request to put a casino or at least slot machines at Arlington. A variety of gambling, Duchossois said, would help bolster his track’s sagging finances and help it compete with Illinois’ most profitable riverboat casino, the Grand Victoria, which is floating on the Fox River in Elgin just 12 miles away.
Duchossois also has complained about the heavy state regulation of the horse racing industry, saying the restrictions prohibit his track from competing with other types of entertainment.
Duchossois had reason to hope that Edgar’s successor would be better for Arlington. Several of the men seeking to be the state’s next chief executive previously said they would support some expansion of gambling.
But all four Democrats and the leading Republican candidate indicated recently that they no longer endorse a wholesale expansion. And while some said they still would consider allowing Chicago to have a casino, none said they would support slot machines at Arlington.
“We’re taking everything a little at a time,” Mordell said. “But we’re not running in ’98, and we’re not seeing anything on the horizon that would let us run in ’99. Our interest is really just moving ahead and figuring out what to do next.”
Mordell’s announcement saddened Don Sweda, owner of Don’s Trackside Barber Shop, across from the track on Northwest Highway. Sweda said track officials gave him free advertising in the Arlington program last May, boosting his new shop.
“They put me on the map,” he said. “I thought that maybe after a year they’d get something together and re-open. I feel bad, because they run a first-class operation.”
Over at Smiley’s Carry Out, a fast-food joint across from Jimmy D’s, co-owner Maria Eleftheriou said: “They’re not going to leave it empty all year. I just hope they put in something that brings in more customers.”
