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Old 09-20-2014, 02:51 PM   #16
Tom
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I once gave directions from Google for Patrick PKTruckdriver, to get to Hawthorne. I don't recall I ever heard from him again!?
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Old 09-20-2014, 02:58 PM   #17
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I once gave directions from Google for Patrick PKTruckdriver, to get to Hawthorne. I don't recall I ever heard from him again!?
LOL.....Patrick was alive and well the last time I saw him at Arlington during the PA get-together a year or 2 ago.
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Old 09-20-2014, 03:05 PM   #18
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i used to lived near Cicero ave on the NW side and that was the road we took when we went up there.Definitely want the doors locked and the windows rolled up.
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Old 09-21-2014, 06:03 AM   #19
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I've boycotted Illinois racing for about four years now, due to one of many fiascoes when the ADW signals were yanked just prior to Saratoga and Del Mar starting up. I just got fed up with being an abused pawn, jerked around by groups that have little interest or capability to manage racing in the Land of Lincoln. The most recent example is:

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-on-2015-dates

It just never changes for the better for the bettor. The obscene OTB and ADW "surcharges", some of which is used to support the crappy harness racing just used to irritate me to no end as an Illinois resident. Gladly moved from the state last year.

Got weaned on racing in Illinois, and have plenty of fond memories from the Quad Cities and Fairmount back in the '80s. Sportmen's used to have some outrageous biases, and I loved the cheap horses that ran at Balmoral on Sundays back in the day. Today I think Arlington still offers some decent turf races, and going to/from Poly does open up some nice bets for horses that love/hate it. But short of the Breeder's Cup returning to AP, Illinois racing won't get a slim dime of my dough any time soon.
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Old 09-21-2014, 07:55 AM   #20
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Understandable Hoofless Wonder. And now the supplemental money coming from the riverboats/casinos is running out and purses will plummet. Hard to see any quality even at Arlington next summer. This summer was rough...difficult to fill races. Can't imagine things will be better next year.
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Old 09-21-2014, 08:10 AM   #21
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Too many statebreds.
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Old 09-21-2014, 08:17 AM   #22
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Too many statebreds.
But isn't that the case almost everywhere? The decent ill-breds hold their own when shipping out to Kentucky, Arkansas,and Louisiana. Suntracer just won the Kentucky Turf Cup last weekend at Kentucky Downs. Recently, I saw the current foaling numbers in Illinois and they're considerably down from past years.
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Old 09-21-2014, 08:46 AM   #23
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Understandable Hoofless Wonder. And now the supplemental money coming from the riverboats/casinos is running out and purses will plummet. Hard to see any quality even at Arlington next summer. This summer was rough...difficult to fill races. Can't imagine things will be better next year.
I know that this is not the popular opinion...but I wouldn't mind an Illinois racing scene consisting only of Hawthorne Park. I have a certain fondness for "cheap" racing...and a year-long Hawthorne campaign appeals to me, in a way. I don't consider the possible closing down of Arlington to be such a tragedy for the horseplayer.
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Old 09-21-2014, 09:06 AM   #24
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I know that this is not the popular opinion...but I wouldn't mind an Illinois racing scene consisting only of Hawthorne Park. I have a certain fondness for "cheap" racing...and a year-long Hawthorne campaign appeals to me, in a way. I don't consider the possible closing down of Arlington to be such a tragedy for the horseplayer.
Could Hawthorne possibly survive without Arlington? I do remember the one year..late 80's..when the rebuilding of AP was in earnest and no dates were sought... when Hawthorne ran through the summer. They carried the load nicely but everyone pitched in to preserve racing here. I think Balmoral had the fall dates that year.
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Old 09-21-2014, 10:06 AM   #25
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Thanks Valuist. Agree with you regarding the drive from the NW burbs to Hawthorne. I went down on a couple saturdays a fall or 2 ago and the jam up between 1st Ave and Mannheim Rd. was horrible both times.Also, it really did seem like there was a true start to the racing year when Sportsmans was in business. Some of the better stables would wait out the meet,maybe get a start or 2 in near the end. Racing almost felt like baseball back then..an opening day worth looking forward to.
And the racing coverage by the Sun Times, Tribune and Daily Herald was excellent back then. Dave Feldman was one of the main contributors for the Sun Times and Neil Milbert for the Tribune. The Daily Herald really only covered the Arlington meet but it was a significant part of their sports page. All three used to have full result charts. Now you are lucky to see summary results.
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Old 09-21-2014, 10:12 AM   #26
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Too many statebreds.
THere are but these races fill. Same as in New York, although I'd put the NY breeding program decidedly above Illinois. But for a number of years, that wasn't the case. Many of the state bred horses seem to race for a number of years and many of those types become fan favorites.

If you go back 20 years it definitely wasn't the case at Arlington. But with the gradual descent of Chicago racing, a number of top barns have gone elsewhere, and with them went many of the good non-Illinois breds.
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Old 09-21-2014, 10:14 AM   #27
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Originally Posted by thaskalos
I know that this is not the popular opinion...but I wouldn't mind an Illinois racing scene consisting only of Hawthorne Park. I have a certain fondness for "cheap" racing...and a year-long Hawthorne campaign appeals to me, in a way. I don't consider the possible closing down of Arlington to be such a tragedy for the horseplayer.
As a bettor I agree but I still love the turf at Arlington, as well as the atmosphere and I don't like making the long drive to Hawthorne. I think it comes down to this: if Arlington is to ever make a comeback, they need to tear out that awful PlasticTrack and put a real dirt surface back in. And as long as CDI owns them, they won't put that $$ into racing because they only care about their casinos, and 2 days of racing in early May in Louisville.
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Old 09-21-2014, 10:41 AM   #28
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I started to boycott illinois racing the same time Hoofless Wonder did due to the adw fiasco. In the past I did enjoy the international festival of racing, now its only one day. I noticed the million had like only 8 horses this year and it wasnt because of track conditions or a super horse coming in. If they cant fill that race , they have some major problems. Dickie D is a very old man and when he goes so does AP.
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Old 09-21-2014, 12:57 PM   #29
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When I pick my races for the day, Chicago just can't compete. Saturday I played..Monmouth, Woodbine, Belmont, Gulfstream...Later I played Los Alamitos, Indiana, Charlestown, Penn. I live in Illinois, I would like to support Illinois racing, and occasionally do but like many tracks, its hard to find plays that suit my betting.
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Old 09-21-2014, 01:30 PM   #30
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When I pick my races for the day, Chicago just can't compete. Saturday I played..Monmouth, Woodbine, Belmont, Gulfstream...Later I played Los Alamitos, Indiana, Charlestown, Penn. I live in Illinois, I would like to support Illinois racing, and occasionally do but like many tracks, its hard to find plays that suit my betting.
Yes,the short fields really hurt here in Chicago but when I look at other tracks that are at least likely to survive the coming contraction,they too appear plagued by short fields with the exception of Oaklawn Park... which I do play having already forsaked the bulk of the Hawthorne spring meet.
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