Rudy and Richard are last year’s model. Michael and Gerri are currently making their names in Australia. In Illinois, Sportsman’s Park is involved in its own game of “Survivor.”
Unlike the television show, this contest could have long-reaching effects. Sportsman’s Park, the customary leadoff hitter for Chicago’s thoroughbred scene, steps up with decidedly fewer at-bats when the 2001 season begins Friday.
That’s because the Illinois Racing Board cut the Cicero track’s meeting by 20 percent, from 54 programs in 2000 to 43 dates this year. Any more slicing might make survival for Sportsman’s Park racing difficult, especially with talk of a Sportsman’s Park-Hawthorne Race Course consolidation always lurking in the background.
The change in dates came after Sportsman’s inaugural horse racing meet at its current dual-purpose facility shared with Chicago Motor Speedway. CMS was built in 1999 to tap into a potentially lucrative new revenue stream for the National Jockey Club, which owns and operates Sportsman’s Park.
But racing patrons were not impressed and spoke with their wallets. The meeting ended at an all-time Chicago racing low for thoroughbred on-track average live handle at $209,376. Other factors likely played a significant role in the drop of business, including the reconstruction of the Stevenson Expressway, but something at the track was definitely amiss.
“The plan was to make sure that we could put on a show,” said National Jockey Club President Charles Bidwill III. “So most of the concentration, I’d say probably 80 percent, went to the racing surface because it had never been done before.
“It was controversial before it was even started. The horsemen were saying they weren’t going to run on it because they didn’t understand it and were concerned. Before we even laid down the first grain of sand and the drainage system and everything else, people were saying `This is never going to work.’
“So our efforts went to the racing surface.”
The drop-in on-track business caught the racing board’s attention.
“After last season there were serious concerns on the racing board’s part with respect to the fact that the horse racing facility was not fan friendly and that there were a number of strides the track needed to take,” said James Kane, a racing board commissioner.
The racing board acted decisively, but it could be argued, too harshly. Sportsman’s was not allowed any growing pains for what was basically a first-year operation. The action was seen by some as unfair to a family that has successfully operated the track since its horse racing inception in 1932.
“I don’t have any doubt in my mind that we’re being punished [by the racing board]. They reacted very harshly. I think it was not fair,” said. Bidwill, the third generation of his family to operate the track. “We’re getting challenged to get it back, to get the numbers up.
“There are other circumstances involved because of the racing schedule they came up with, taking the month of October from Hawthorne, that they had to do something to mitigate that a little bit. But I don’t think it was necessary to take those two weeks from us.
“But, hey, that’s the challenge they gave me, and we’re going to meet the challenge.”
The situation overshadows what Sportsman’s Park accomplished in 2000. It married auto and horse racing over the same course, and created one of the greatest engineering feats in thoroughbred racing history–a portable racetrack.
The revolutionary surface is contained between 16-inch high curbs set on the auto track’s pit road. The racing strip features a screened limestone base with 5 1/2 inches of blended sand as its cushion. Set at the track base were 18-inch wide strips of plastic highway drainage mats placed 3 1/2 feet apart. Slots cut in the bottom of the track curbs allow for water that seeps through the track to drain into the infield.
The racing surface performed like a work of art. Hall of Fame riders Laffit Pincay Jr., who made an opening day promotional riding appearance, and Pat Day, who won the Grade III Sixty Sails aboard Lu Ravi, praised the surface. Sportsman’s three equine racing fatalities were the fewest of any Chicago meeting last year.
But the racing surface is only one part of a racetrack. The construction of the auto track made drastic changes to Sportsman’s Park’s horse racing setup.
Railbirds became an endangered species. The 12-foot high auto racing crash wall made the rail difficult to reach. The crash fence atop the wall obstructed the view of the races for a majority of the seats.
Fans flocked to the third-floor grandstand for the best view, but the former overflow area was not what they were used to.
For some, Sportsman’s had lost its feel as a horse track. Others complained it seemed horse racing had become a sideshow at an auto track.
“We did have some amenities but it was still not what it should have been,” Bidwill said. “This year all we had to do was concentrate 110 percent on getting our place back up to the fan-friendly place it was before, and putting amenities in that the fans didn’t have when we first reopened.”
Year one of a two-year remodeling plan cost Sportsman’s a reported $1.2 million.
One of the most striking changes is the removal of the crash fence atop the crash wall. The wires and poles spanning the length of the old clubhouse and grandstand, are gone, allowing patrons on upper levels unobstructed views of the races.
Another major change will allow railbirds to roost anew. A wood ramp angles down from the west end of the outdoor grandstand, over the crash wall, to a new 200-foot long by 20-foot wide deck at track side at the wire.
Sportsman’s portable tote board set in tractor-trailers has been expanded, with one trailer set at an angle to accommodate clubhouse patrons. The race time will be displayed on the tote this year.
Inside, the first-floor grandstand area has been improved with 70-inch televisions added. Also new are 450 handicapping carrels with fluorescent lighting.
The remodeled third-floor grandstand has new lighting and televisions. Windows were tinted and an awning was installed to allow patrons to watch the races outside with cover. The top rows of outdoor grandstand seats were removed to allow for a better view.
A new stairwell has been cut into grandstand to allow direct access from the inside seats to the outside seats.
“Most of the improvements we made came from talking to our fans, trainers and owners and getting their suggestions,” Bidwill said. “We did this even after we closed last year by going to horsemen and talking to our regulars. It’s not just something that we said, this is what the fans were upset about; we went and asked them. With the feedback we got, we came up with a plan.”
The improvements, along with a popular new merchandise program tied to betting, have produced about a 20 percent increase in wagering at during full-card simulcasting at Sportsman’s in January and February, according to the racing board.
It appears the new Sportsman’s will head into its second season with a bit of momentum. After 43 days the numbers will tell whether it survived, or thrived.
