FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jack Kelly

June 14, 2006 630-323-0808

ILLINOIS RACING BOARD VACATES MONDAYS AT BALMORAL

HINSDALE, Ill. – The Illinois Racing Board voted today to allow Balmoral Race Course to cancel their Monday evening races for the rest of 2006. Balmoral requested that the IRB consider this issue at their monthly meeting in May, but the IRB voted to defer action until this month’s meeting. The Board used figures from Balmoral and Maywood Parks seven day a week race meet and compared them to Hawthorne’s six day a week meet which started May 6^th. Hawthorne’s handle numbers were higher during their six days as compared to the Balmoral/Maywood figures for seven days. The IRB concluded that this proved that racing six days a week was not detrimental to total handle and allowed the industry to spread out the money that would have been paid in purses to the remaining days.

The Illinois Harness Horseman’s Association (IHHA) took exception to the IRB’s interpretation of the numbers. According to Marty Engel, president of the IHHA, “The IRB erred when comparing the two meets. We believe the higher handle figures compiled by Hawthorne were from factors that had nothing to do with running only six days per week. Their increased handle could have come from a number of factors, including better marketing, a location closer to the city, fuller fields and increase awareness of horseracing at this time of the year.” The IHHA also feels the loss of racing opportunities by the horsemen is a critical factor that the board did not consider. “Having fewer available race days means there will mean a decrease in the number of horses needed to fill fields” Engel says. “Even though there are short fields in the industry now, it will be very difficult to get the tracks to agree to restore days if alternative revenues sources ever materialize, such as money from the recently passed Representative Molaro bill that gives the horseracing industry a percentage of the riverboats.”

The IHHA also testified that they were concerned on what effect this will have on the recapture issue, an issue that has caused confrontation between the tracks and horsemen in the past. The calculation of recapture is based on the decrease in live handle. “Obviously, taking a day of live racing off will have an effect on the amount of recapture” according to Engel “Letting them take a day off allows the tracks take the easy way out instead of coming up with innovative, long range solutions that are needed for this industry to survive.”

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