The scheduled 3:00 p.m. start of the first race was delayed for almost
ninety minutes. Racetrack spectators observed that the temporary shutdown seemed
to be timed to coincide with the closing weekend of the Spring Thoroughbred
Meet at Hawthorne. On Monday, April 28th, racing will conclude at Hawthorne
and the next series of thoroughbred dates will be held at Arlington Park Race
Track beginning on May 2nd.
According to some sources, a tactical decision was made to stage the strike
at Hawthorne on a slow business day rather than to interfere with a
potentially more lucrative date at Arlington. The objective of the jockeys was to force
an agreement for the riders to receive a larger percentage of the racing
purses and to have that agreement carry over to the next meet at Arlington Park
Race Track. The scheduled racing program included many races featuring
maidens (horses that had not raced before or those that had not won a race in prior
outings) and several claiming races. The potential pay outs to the jockeys
looked to be quite poor in several of the races. Another concern was that the
riders were to be laid off for several days until the start of the next
racing meet at Arlington.
While simulcast betting was available throughout the afternoon, Peter
Galassi, the field announcer at Hawthorne. kept making repeated apologies for the
delay of the first race without providing a detailed explanation as to the
cause of the interruption. The televised broadcast of the races from Hawthorne
Park simply posted a captioned photograph on the screen which stated that the
first race had been delayed.
The first race was a turf race and the racing gate had been placed on the
grass infield in preparation for the three o’clock start, but no horses appeared
upon the track at the scheduled post time. Initially, some spectators were
confused and some believed that weather conditions had caused the
postponement. It was overcast with strong gusting winds from the Southwest. Some patrons
thought that the trainers did not want the race to be held in these
conditions for fear of an accident or collision resulting from the winds. These
rumors proved to be wholly unfounded.
Veteran railbirds surmised that the delay was intended to force a better
bargain for jockeys before the races shifted to the more luxurious and
profitable Arlington Park Track which was formerly operated by Richard L. Duchossois,
an influential political donor with important connections. Now eighty-five
years of age, Duchossois has assumed the position of chairman emeritus at
Arlington Park. Duchossois has been an advocate of expanding the number of
gambling positions to permit slot machines to be added to race tracks or,
alternatively, for the legislature to compel riverboat casino operators to help
subsidize the declining horse racing industry in Illinois by sharing a portion of
their revenues with the race tracks.
After a lengthy delay, horse races resumed at Hawthorne. The ordinary half
hour intervals between races were eliminated as track employees hurried the
proceedings in an effort to make up for lost time. Races were staged
approximately every fifteen minutes for the remainder of the day. There was some
concern that horses treated with Lasix might be adversely affected by the prolonged
delay, but most of the horses ran nonetheless. Unlike the jockeys, the
ponies could not mount an effective protest for better working conditions and
more oats.
Many patrons who had come to see live racing had exited from the facility by
the time of the first post as no explanation was forthcoming as to the true
nature of labor dispute between the jockeys and the management. Although no
admission refunds were made, those persons who left early were informed that
they would be admitted free of charge to attend the races on any of the
remaining three days at the Spring Meet at Hawthorne. It would be necessary for
these fans to present a copy of their Friday, April 25th racing programs to be
readmitted without being charged.
The horse racing industry in Illinois has suffered a slow and steady decline
in popularity in recent years. The growth and expansion of other forms of
legalized gambling have eroded the long time appeal of horse racing as the only
game in town. Coverage of racing results and track news has been severely
curtailed in both the Sun-Times and the Tribune. Stunts like the unscheduled
and unpublicized shutdown today are not likely to inspire much confidence in
the rapidly thinning ranks of horse players.
**
Daniel J. Kelley is a broken down old horse player and a contributor to the
Chicago Daily Observer.
Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush says:
A discerning reader recognized that the title of the article refers to the comedy which starred Marx Brothers. You are correct, sir!
During the actual delay at Hawthorne Park Race Track, I kept thinking of the running gag in the movie in which the track announcer had to keep apologizing for the late start of the race caused the interfering tactics used by Groucho, Chico and Harpo to stall for time as the romantic lead, Allan Jones, tried to return the track with his prize horse that had been stolen by Douglass Dumbrille's henchmen.
RJE says:
Like hockey, overexpansion and new competition have hurt both sports of thoroughbred and harness racing.
There are now new ways to legally gamble you money away. Riverboat and Native American casinos are now a short drive from where we live. The action is constant with bells, whistles, and cocktail service. There is no waiting between races to make a bet. We also have had state and multi-state lotteries for decades. Lottery players can walk to the convenience store to take a chance at becoming millionaires for one dollar.
The race tracks themselves offer more options than they once did by allowing the horseplayers to watch and bet out of state tracks. Some tracks have thrived on the addition of slot machines.
The racing seasons are also longer. In its heyday, Chicago area thoroughbred racing starting in April and ended in November with short meets rotating at different tracks. The harness season went a little longer, but virtually no live racing was run here from Thanksgiving to mid-March. The illegal bookmakers that took bets on out of town winter at that time racing thrived. For better or worse, they have been put out of business.
There are only so many dollars to spread around. To younger people who are just starting to gamble and are picking their poison, the horses just don't rate very well to them compared to their other new options, which are faster and glitzier and require less patience.