Hawthorne is now officially closed. This from BloodHorse: “The last three horses were vanned off the Hawthorne Race Course backstretch on the rainy Aug 31 morning…paving the way for the finalization of the sale of the property for redevelopment.” (Technically, the finale for Hawthorne came when training hours were concluded Aug 28.)
Hawthorne, as we previously reported, went bankrupt. Its closure leaves the whole of the Chicago area, once a thriving circuit, without a single track (previous closures this century: Sportsman’s, Maywood, Balmoral, Arlington), and the state itself with just one (Fairmount). In short, Illinois now joins the likes of Massachusetts, Michigan, Idaho, Oregon, and others as dead or moribund racing states.
While it may not always feel like it, folks, we are winning. Outside of Kentucky, two tracks in NY, two in California, and one in Arkansas, U.S. horseracing is a failed business being kept alive by taxpayer dollars. So today, let’s savor another victory. After abusing and killing horses for over a century, Hawthorne Race Course is no more – and the list grows.
Spot-on, Sue. Thank you.
If people who didn’t see any harm in placing bets on racehorses had their eyes opened because they found out that hundreds and thousands of horses were being injured and many of those injuries turned out to be fatal injuries resulting in death to the horses by reading Horseracing Wrongs, then, yes, that is definitely a win.
If people became aware of the every day cruelty to the horses by reading Horseracing Wrongs, mission accomplished.
If people realized they were being duped by the industry and chose to stop being a sucker, more power to those people!
Yay!! And of course, the pro-racing folks are challenging us on social media on how WE are going to rehome and save their former racing horses with each closure, and as racing contracts.
Well, folks, WE have already been trying to rehome and rescue them for years. WE have already been stepping up to save horses we didn’t make money on, we didn’t create, we didn’t break down. But WE will keep doing what we can. In the meantime, the racing folks will continue to create, break down, and dump horses to slaughter, all the while expecting US to clean up their messes.