Hawthorne Awarded All Illinois Harness Dates.

[pezz97]

  The Johnstons are finally out. They did more harm to Illinois harness racing than anyone. I will be going back to live racing in Illinois a lot more now.

http://www.harnessracing.com/news/hawthorneawardedall2016harnessdatesinil.html

[careless hal]

Looks like the best deal for horsemen and bettors .  I will miss Balmoral and the year around racing.  Purses should be better.

[Mags]

certainly never been a fan of the johnstons but I will miss Balmoral..was a short trip from the house and has been a saturday night staple for myself..glad the horsemen got a better deal but still in need of a gaming bill if the politicians ever decide to do their job and actually pass a budget so they can discuss the other zillion problems for the state...RIP Balmoral

[pezz97]

certainly never been a fan of the johnstons but I will miss Balmoral..was a short trip from the house and has been a saturday night staple for myself..glad the horsemen got a better deal but still in need of a gaming bill if the politicians ever decide to do their job and actually pass a budget so they can discuss the other zillion problems for the state...RIP Balmoral

I think there is a better chance of the racetracks getting slots with the johnstons now out of the picture.

[Mags]

I think there is a better chance of the racetracks getting slots with the johnstons now out of the picture.

agree completely with you Pezz..good to have you back posting with us 

[careless hal]

I don't think the tracks will ever get slots.  Johnstons are jerks but polititions don't give a rat's ass about that.   They also are jerks.  There will be no racing in Illinois in 2-3 years,T-bred or harness.  I hope. i am wrong  .  in the meantime i will practice my knife fighting skills so I can fight my way into Hawthorne to watch the harness races.

[tonyb147]

Doesn't matter where they race - IL product needs to improve before I'm watching. 

[careless hal]

Doesn't matter where they race - IL product needs to improve before I'm watching. 

It will be dead before it ever can improve

Many of those still playing the harness races are more gamblers than fans.
Now i am just a recreational betttor.  But,  i know all about betting big.
Back in 68 i bet $400 to win on a horse at Balmoral. I was 't even making $6,000 a year.  Today i would have to bet over $10,000 on a race to equal that..
Of course, the pools aren't  big enough most of the time to allow that. By the way, the horse paid $4.40  to win and was parked every stepof the mile on Balmoral's then half mile track.  I stopped making big bets when Washington Park burned down.  I was so distraught i stopped attending the races for 4 years.

[LVGaryD]

It's a good step to get racing back more toward downtown than Balmoral, not to mention the owners of Balmoral really were not conducive to the success of harness racing.