Tough moment for racing fans.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by BIG49010

It's a shit hole, in a shitty area, next to the Waste Management garbage dump, down wind from a Waste Treatment plant!

Hey...no place is pefect.

[The_Turf_Monster]

Originally Posted by Thomas Roulston

Why does Hawthorne "literally sit empty"?

They gutted 2/3 of it to put in a casino/convention center/hotel/etc that never got put in. It’s an empty shell with a bar and simulcast on the first level

[BettinBilly]

Chicago used to be my favorite city to visit, Arlington included. Sad to see it go, as I am sad to see what is happening in Chicago in recent years.

Last time I was in Chicago/Arlington was 2017. Seems like a lifetime ago now.

[Publius]

Sadly this scene has occurred at other Churchill Downs properties.

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by Publius

Sadly this scene has occurred at other Churchill Downs properties.

To be fair, Arlington was on death's door way before Churchill got there. This might be a terrible comparison, but it's a bit like Garden State Park here in NJ. They spent a ton of money to build an admittedly beautiful (Arlington, not Garden State) facility for people to attend live...right at the time people stopped attending live racing. It was really dead in the water before it got started because it was built for a different time. The rest of it, the failed/lackluster attempts to save it, can be chalked up to Illinois politics.

[BIG49010]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Hey...no place is pefect.

When they reopened in 1980 after the fire, I wondered what they did with the money from the fire! The Illinois racing used to be great, Sportsman's Park used to draw good horses from everywhere, and was always in my book a better run track than Hawthorne next door. I wish I knew what happened to the Bidwell, but when they got into auto racing that was the beginning of the end of Illinois racing.


I might be mistaken, but I always thought Stormy owned part of Churchill at that time?

[The_Turf_Monster]

AP had a plan to remain competitive and even offer a better product around 2013 or so. Had it gotten slots and a reduced calendar of racing dates while maintaining the host schedule for simulcast, the plan was to be offering purses in the top tier in the US and a return of a stakes calendar.

The horsemen didn’t like the plan and wouldn’t support it beyond wanting slots money and no reduction in racing dates, HAW had the horsemen’s support because it offered the spring meet, the slots plan wouldn’t make it through the Illinois House or even be called for a vote for that matter, and this is what you get imo