Chris Block

The judge handling the Hawthorne Race Course bankruptcy case has ordered the immediate release of $800,000 in unpaid purse money while establishing a process to determine a final administrative claim of up to $1.1 million. Together with a separate $200,000 payment made Aug. 4, the total corresponds to the approximately $1.3 million the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) told the court its members are owed. The Chicago-area track, owned by Chicago's Carey family for the last 117 years, is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure between $100 and $500...

Hawthorne Race Course, whose management abruptly and prematurely ended the 2026 racing season two weeks ago, then mandated that backstretch residents vacate the property in advance of a pending Chapter 11 bankruptcy sale, has applied for 2027 race dates with the Illinois Racing Board (IRB). The application, with a proposed Mar. 27-Oct. 31 season, caught representatives with the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) off guard when it was announced Tuesday by the IRB. "It comes as a surprise, being that there's a closing on the Hawthorne property set for after...

The court-approved $90-million bankruptcy sale of Hawthorne Race Course to a non-racing entity edged closer to a proposed closing after a Friday hearing that got continued to a later date, with humans and horses now increasingly likely to face an Aug. 31 deadline to vacate the property. Although no final sale order was posted to the court's online docket as of 5 p.m. Central Time July 24, published reports indicated that the third day of hearings this week resulted in a verbal direction from the judge for Hawthorne, the property's...

This wasn't easy. Since Hawthorne last ran a Thoroughbred race, checks have bounced to harness horsemen, the Illinois Racing Board pulled the plug on last year's Standardbred meet, the owners have declared bankruptcy, and there still has been no concrete news on when or how a casino might be built at the track. Way back in 2019, legislation was approved that allowed Illinois racetracks to operate casinos. Hawthorne's casino project has remained in limbo ever since. Hawthorne filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 27, a move that actually helped...

One day after the latest hearing in a federal Bankruptcy Court in Chicago over Hawthorne's insolvency dealings, a slight equipment delay puts a question mark over the start of training in preparation for a Spring Thoroughbred meet, but there appears to be movement over important simulcast signals going back online. According to Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) President Chris Block, the trucks to haul the dirt surface to the track have been rented, but the loaders needed to move the dirt into the trucks have yet to arrive. "The conversion...

After two days of proceedings in a federal bankruptcy court in Chicago Tuesday and Wednesday, judge Timothy Barnes has authorized the release of funds to pay outstanding wages owed to Hawthorne employees and to pay for the necessary equipment to resurface the track in preparation for a Thoroughbred meet, according to Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) president Chris Block, who attended the hearings. Hawthorne, and its related companies, filed for a Chapter 11 business reorganization Friday. The filing is built around a "debtor in possession" financing mechanism, which is when...

Hawthorne Race Course, and its related companies, has filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Chicago Friday. According to a press release issued by the track, the "reorganization plan will prioritize paying accrued purses to the Illinois Horsemen as well as payroll for the track employees while restructuring the company's debt. "The goal of the reorganization is to attract a buyer or investor willing to recapitalize Hawthorne and restart operations of the racecourse while maximizing recovery to the company's creditors. Hawthorne will be working with financial...

The 2026 Thoroughbred meet at Hawthorne is supposed to start in just over a month. The ominous wall of silence and uncertainty hanging over the track's future, however, is leaving the horsemen and women relying on the meet's go-ahead "extremely worried and concerned," said Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) president Chris Block on Monday. "We've implored the [Illinois Racing Board] executive director and the chairman [Daniel Beiser] that they get Hawthorne to the table. I'm hopeful that'll happen," said Block, who estimated that there are currently around 175 Thoroughbreds stabled...

These are not easy times for Illinois horsemen, who have already lost Arlington Park and may soon see the area's remaining Thoroughbred track go under. After the Illinois Racing Board, citing financial instability, which included the bouncing of checks, pulled the plug on the track's Standardbred meet in January, there's no telling whether or not a reeling Hawthorne will be able to open its doors when the Thoroughbred meet is supposed to start March 29. Chris Block, the president of the local horsemen's group, is fighting the good fight to...

Chris Block, the President of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, discusses the recent events at Hawthorne and the future of Illinois racing.

The extent of Hawthorne Race Course's financial troubles, and with it the enormous ramifications for industry stakeholders in the state, were made glaringly clear during Wednesday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting. On Monday, the racing board suspended the operating license of Suburban Downs, Inc., which manages Hawthorne's harness meet, for "failure to provide documentation demonstrating its financial integrity, and proof that they can meet the minimum standards" as outlined in state law. According to representatives from the Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association (IHHA) who attended Wednesday's meeting, Hawthorne--which is owned and...

With 2025 drawing to a close and the beleaguered Chicago racing community having gone two months since the last public update from Hawthorne Race Course regarding its long-promised but still unbuilt racino, you'd think the focus of Thursday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting might have involved some sort of formal request to know where Hawthorne stood on the oft-delayed project that the state legalized back in 2019 and is considered imperative for the future of racing in Illinois. At the IRB's Sept. 18 meeting, Tim Carey, Hawthorne's president and general...