At Today’s IRB meeting, 2020 racing dates were determined. Harness horsemen will enjoy a much longer racing season which has been extended from 71 days in 2019 to 104 in 2020. The Tinley Park Racino was approved for an organization license and will have their racetrack ready for us in December of next year.
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https://harnessracingupdate.com/2019/09/20/uncertainty-in-illinois/
The IHHA wrote letters of support to the Illinois Racing Board for next year’s proposed harness schedule as applied for by Hawthorne and Rick Heidner. Today was the annual dates hearing when this decision was to be made. However, after all of the testimony concluded, a motion was made to delay this decision by one week, until next Tuesday. The point of contention was that some members of the IRB were concerned about Arlington Park and their seemingly lack of commitment to horse racing in Illinois. Representatives from Arlington Park were there but no one from Churchill Downs. The IRB wants to take this week to re-examine the proposed schedule and decide if any changes should be made. They have to decide if awarding racing dates to Arlington Park, who has stated that they cannot commit to horseracing beyond 2021 and that they believe this is not the right economic conditions for them to build a casino, and that they may consider moving their racetrack to another location (which really upset some members of the IRB for a myriad of different reasons) is in the best interest of horse racing for next year. We will stay in touch with all involved and try again next week to get some absolute clarity on next year’s schedule.
