The Illinois Racing Board has suspended the operating license for harness racing at Hawthorne Race Course, citing ongoing financial difficulties.
The board cited Suburban Downs, which operates harness racing at Hawthorne, Monday for “failure to provide documentation demonstrating its financial integrity,” and proof that it can meet the minimum standards of the state Horse Racing Act.
Domenic DiCera, the board’s executive director, called the decision “very difficult.”
“On January 15th, IRB requested bank statements that reflect the operating fund, and any fund related to racing operations at Suburban Downs,” DiCera said in a written statement. “Unfortunately, their financial difficulties, including failure to provide financial documents showing their ability to operate assigned 2026 race dates, have led us to suspend their license.”
Previously, the board had canceled the track’s races in west suburban Stickney on Jan. 3 and 4 for failure to submit required surety bonds.
The track rectified that, but horse owners said the track’s checks to them from previous races were bouncing, and the track has canceled its races on every subsequent weekend this year.
Jeff Davis, president of the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association, wrote online that the races were canceled because the horsemen cannot be paid due to the track’s banking issues.
“Our position remains unchanged: racing should not resume until horsemen have reliable access to their earned funds,” Davis wrote.
The racing board sent a letter January 26 to Tim Carey, owner and CEO of Suburban Downs, and president and general manager of the Carey family-owned Hawthorne, citing state law that the board may require access to a license holder’s financial records, and stating that if a track’s check bounces, the matter shall go to the board for disposition.
The Board stated that it will consider reinstating the Suburban Downs licenses “should they cure the violations and provide documentation demonstrating they meet the minimum standards, including but not limited to its financial integrity…”
Track officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Carey and Davis were scheduled to speak to the board at its meeting Wednesday.
As part of a massive expansion of gambling in Illinois in 2019, state lawmakers authorized Hawthorne to open a combination racecourse and casino, or racino, at its current location and in the south suburbs. Lawmakers also granted the track the extraordinary authority to veto any other attempt to open a track in the south suburbs.
Despite demolition of part of its grandstand and repeated promises of progress, after six years, Hawthorne has failed to get funding for a racino at either site.
Harness horse owners, breeders and trainers say their industry is dying without the revenue from racinos, as other states have. The horse operators have called for state lawmakers to rescind that veto, and let others build a new track in the south suburbs and in downstate Decatur. The state Senate approved such a measure in October, and it may get action by the House in the current legislative session.
Since Arlington International Racecourse closed in 2021, Hawthorne is the only horse racing venue in the Chicago area, and the only harness race course in the state. Hawthorne is scheduled to make its annual switch from harness racing to thoroughbred racing in March through November.