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IHHA HALL OF FAME BANQUET
BANQUET: Monday, March 12, 2012
Doubletree Hotel, 5000 W. 127th
(by Cicero & 294) Alsip, IL. 60803
1-708-371-7300
Tickets $35pp; available February 8, 2012
(Open Bar 6-7PM), Dinner, Dancing, Awards, Door Prizes
Resv. Req. by March 2, 2012
For Tickets Contact:
Brenda Watson 1-217-416-3973
IHHA Office 1-630-323-0808
or Betsy (Horsemen’s Bookkeeper)
Also to be honored is the Maywood Park Driver and Trainer of the Year and the Balmoral Park Driver and Trainer of the Year. Click Here for nomination guidelines.
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Monday, January 9, 2012
As a reminder, your 2012 membership for the IHHA is available. If you have not received your 2012 application in the mail, call the office at 630-323-0808 or simply download it here from the website, under IHHA Membership 2012, print it out and send it in. If you have sent it in, you should be expecting your calendar and membership card this week. The windshirts will be arriving later. The membership for this year has been lowered to just $30. Anyone with an interest in harness racing is eligible to join. Even if you are not taking an active role in Illinois harness racing this year you can still sign up as an “associate” member. The navy blue windshirts with the orange IHHA logo are a part of every membership, if received by Feb. 4, 2012. We encourage everyone to take advantage of this terrific offer. Get involved, be well-informed and have a voice in your future.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
2012 Contract update.
The IHHA and the racetracks are in the process of negotiating a contract for 2012. Among the issues that have been or are in the process of being negotiated are:
- A different and more Illinois favorable preference system than the one currently in place.
(The current preference system from the 2011 contract can be viewed below.)
- Timely payments of breeder’s awards.
- An improved insurance policy for drivers and trainers.
- Vast capital improvements to Maywood's and Balmoral's neglected and deteriorating paddocks and backstretches (which is mandated in the 3% law.)
One issue not in dispute with this contract is recapture - as a result of there being approximately $25 million in our purse account, avoiding paying recapture is not an option. (If we didn't race the entire year of 2012, the racetracks would collect recapture because, unlike prior years, the money is available for the recapture to be taken.)
The racetracks and the IHHA have decided to extend the 2011 contract for 30 days in an effort to continue negotiations and hopefully secure a contract.
2011 Preference System:
In races with a purse less than that of a non-conditioned $8,000 claiming race, acceptance may or may not be given to horses that meet the following criteria over other horses entered: Illinois Conceived and Foaled and/or Illinois Owned and/or Illinois Trained and/or having made their last THREE (3) starts in Illinois. Illinois trained shall be defined as any trainer that has made at least 100 starts in Illinois in the previous 12 month period (calculated month by month) or has made at least 60% of his starts in Illinois in the previous 12 month period. Horses in races with the purse of a claiming price of $8,000 or less that do not meet the above criteria, if accepted will be conditionally accepted provided they do not take a racing opportunity from a horse that is accepted, not in to race, not part of an entry, and meets the criteria. Licensees and the IHHA agree that, if and when money becomes available for payment of purses from the 3% Riverboat Impact Fee, a tenth riverboat casino or “slots at the track”, they will enter into good faith negotiations with respect to limitations on entry acceptance.
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December 25, 2011
Today, the IHHA would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays.
This week, we will continue to negotiate the contract for 2012. Please check back this week for updates. There are many contentious issues to be ironed out. More on those later. For today, enjoy the holidays.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Legislative Update
Unfortunately, it appears the special session in Springfield will end with no outcome to a gaming bill. No vote was taken Tuesday on the new gaming bill (primarily because several key Reps. weren't in attendance).
It's anybody's guess where this leaves us. Please remember that in addition to the entire racing industry (harness horsemen, t-bred horsemen, and all racetrack owners) the city of Chicago and five other Illinois cities desperately want a gaming bill to pass. In addition, Illinois is flat broke and has a very high unemployment rate. Somehow and in someway a bill to placate all of these participants and fix these issues will become law. Remember, when it comes to Illinois politics, sometimes things happen when they're least expected.
We will keep working and keep updating this site regularly.
Dave McCaffrey
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Monday, Nov. 28, 2011 From today's Chicago Tribune in the Commentary Section
Gaming expansion plan Lately a lot has been written and said about gaming expansion, so much so that it's often hard to keep track of what's really in the pending legislation. There's nothing secret. It's available to the public at the General Assembly's website: http://www.ilga.gov. The Senate plan is SB-747. Back in May, the General Assembly supported a similar plan. But Gov. Pat Quinn> made it clear he'd veto it. So the Senate didn't send it to him. Instead we listened to the governor, the editorial writers and others who feared it lacked accountability and oversight.
The result is the legislation (SB-747) now before the General Assembly. This plan strengthens ethical provisions and spells out that a Chicago casino faces the same regulation by the Illinois Gaming Board as existing casinos. The Gaming Board chairman has stated the opposite, but if you review the legislation, you will see he is mistaken. An overview is available at our Website that spells this out: http://www.illinoissenatedemocrats.com.
As for the rest of the package, no, the governor doesn't get everything he wants. The proposal still includes slot machines at horse tracks, whereas the governor prefers they get a subsidy from casinos. But the expansion supporters don't get everything they want either. Per the governor's wish, there would be no slot machines at the State Fairgrounds' horse track. Also out are slot machines at O'Hare and Midway airports. Overall there's a 26 percent reduction in the number of new positions compared to the initial plan.
I understand the contentious nature of legalized gaming. But the decision was made long ago to have gaming, so now we find ourselves setting policy for a multibillion-dollar business in heated competition with surrounding states.
While we've wrung our hands over politics, Indiana puts casinos just across the border so the parking lots can fill with Illinois gamblers while Wisconsin interests hire lobbyists to try to kill off Illinois competition.
It is time that we act, but we must act responsibly. The input we've received resulted in better legislation.
Being opposed to gaming is a perfectly legitimate position, and one I can respect. This is an issue that divides members in both parties. But let's put the personal political rhetoric aside and debate the pros and cons of the actual legislation. I hope that in the days ahead we find the common-sense, common ground and compromise needed.
John J. Cullerton, Illinois Senate president, Springfield
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Legislative Update Sunday, November 27, 2011
On Tuesday, November 29, a one or two day session will be held in Springfield. One of only a few items on the agenda will be a gaming bill.
Lobbyists and horse racing employees have been working hard in the past couple weeks to get commitments from "fence-sitting" legislators. There are several scenarios that might play out this week. They include:
1) A gaming bill, which would put slots at tracks, will be introduced and voted on.
2) A different bill altogether will be introduced that would give the horse industry some type of impact fee.
3) A standoff between Representatives, Senators, and Governor Quinn resulting in no action taken this week.
The results of this week are particularly hard to predict. Whatever the outcome, we at the IHHA will keep horsemen apprised of the developments as they happen.
Dave McCaffrey
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Chicago Tribune - November 18, 2011
In defense of slots at the racetracks
By David McCaffrey
Gov. Pat Quinn has been flooded with thousands of letters and phone calls in support of allowing slot machines at racetracks, a clear indication of public approval.
The debate over slots at the tracks has gone on for 20 years. Finally, Illinois legislators passed a bill last spring that seeks to dam the flood of horseracing and agribusiness jobs heading to states like Indiana, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York and more. That bill recognizes that gambling already exists at racetracks and adding slots is a logical extension, not an expansion.
What has chased these agribusiness and horseracing jobs out of Illinois?
Simply put, horseracing industries in other states have been allowed to modernize their business model. They have been allowed to compete in the marketplace and they have done that by giving horseracing patrons more options for betting at tracks. Instead of subsidies from a hostile casino industry, horseracing industries have chosen slot machines. And Illinois is being left behind. The introduction of slots at racetracks has revolutionized the horseracing game. Purses — or the prize money — are the lifeblood of the sport; the bigger the purse, the more attractive the race. These large purses attract the best horses on the continent. The high level of talent attracts bettors from across the globe. Yes, across the globe.
Horses, drivers, breeders and race programs are a reflection of a state's horseracing industry. By that measure, Illinois has failed 40,000 horsemen. Purses in Delaware, for example, average $10,000 per race. They are often as high as $20,000. Illinois — historically one of the country's premier horseracing states — has purses averaging around $4,000; hardly enough for an industry to survive.
When Indiana introduced slot machines at its tracks in 2005, it saw a 40 percent increase in the number of direct racetrack jobs, to say nothing of the thousands of ancillary jobs associated with horseracing. At the same time Illinois saw employee levels decline by 40 percent, according to Illinois racetrack data. Since adding slots five years ago, the Indiana Horse Council says that it has gone "from a fledgling $294 million economic impact to a $1 billion industry for the state of Indiana." Put another way, Indiana is building a robust, successful agriculture machine with Illinois horsemen who were shown the door by their home state.
This cannot continue. A drive across Illinois will showcase foreclosed and shuttered horse-breeding and training farms. These farms are not small operations. It is labor intensive to prepare a racehorse for competition and for every racehorse in Illinois, as many as eight people are employed.
These horsemen, veterinarians, blacksmiths, grain and equipment dealers are the working men and women Gov. Quinn invokes so often. They have joined the hoteliers, hospitality and construction workers, 4-H groups, farmers and many others in urging Quinn to pass a gaming bill with slots at the tracks.
Is he listening?
Dave McCaffrey is an Illinois horse trainer and president of the Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association.
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Monday, October 17
The IHHA encourages anyone who cares about horse racing in Illinois to contact Governor Quinn's office and tell them how disheartened you are in his latest proposal. He can be reached at:
Springfield
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: 217-782-0244
TTY: 888-261-3336
or
Chicago
Office of the Governor
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph, 16-100
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: 312-814-2121
Or go to this page on the governor's website to email him your concerns: http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/Pages/ContacttheGovernor.aspx
We also insist that everyone keep their comments civil and appropriate. We do not need to be harassing his staff. Simply pass on the message that you are disappointed in his decision on the gaming bill.
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Friday, September 30, 2011
These video’s have been put together and organized by the IHHA for our own You Tube channel. We will be adding more and more as we get closer to the October 27th veto session. Check back frequently for updates. They are accessible on our Facebook page as well and are beginning to gather serious momentum. We plan on having the Governor and all legislators watching these videos as we move forward. Click here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheHarnessIllinois#p/u
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