The 25th National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) presented by Caesars Entertainment, Horseshoe Las Vegas, and Racetrack Television Network (RTN) kicks off this Friday, March 15, and runs through Sunday, March 17, at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.
Category: Horse Racing News
Chicago Bears Reverse Course, Will Not Build Stadium On Arlington Property
According to several news reports, the Chicago Bears are now planning to build a new stadium within the city limits of Chicago. The Bears purchased Arlington Park and the surrounding property from Churchill Downs Incorporated in 2021 for $197.2 million and announced plans to build a stadium there. Since the purchase, the Arlington grandstand has been torn down, but the Bears did not start the process of developing the property.
Citing a source, ESPN.com is reporting that the Bears are ready to invest $2 billion in private money into a publicly owned domed stadium and park space that would feature year-round community amenities.
“The Chicago Bears are proud to contribute over $2 billion to build a stadium and improve open spaces for all families, fans and the general public to enjoy in the City of Chicago,” Bears team president and CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement. “The future stadium of the Chicago Bears will bring a transformative opportunity to our region — boosting the economy, creating jobs, facilitating mega events and generating millions in tax revenue. We look forward to sharing more information when our plans are finalized.”
According to ESPN.com, the Bears began exploring options for a new stadium beyond Arlington Heights last summer when they announced that those plans were “at risk” as negotiations over property taxes reached a $100 million impasse.
Should the plans to build a stadium in Chicago come to fruition, it is expected that the Bears will put the Arlington property up for sale.
Dave McCaffrey, the executive director of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, was skeptical that the Bears will actually follow through on the plans to build a stadium within the city limits. He believes the announcement may be nothing more than posturing to get a better deal.
“Even though they made that announcement I don't think Arlington is dead when it comes to building a stadium there,” McCaffrey said. “There are all sorts of political games being played. I don't think the situation is as definitive as they made it sound in that announcement. They are trying to get tax breaks and public funding for a stadium, and the announcement made today is often the sort of thing people do when they are trying to get money.”
McCaffrey said he doesn't foresee any scenario where a new buyer would emerge and construct a racetrack on the site. He noted that the current laws in Illinois do not allow for a racino to be built at Arlington.
“The Bears completely destructed Arlington and all its accouterments, the water tower, the barns, the dorm rooms, the vets offices, every single piece of anything that was built is gone. It's just a piece of vacant land. The amount of money it would take to rebuild a racetrack, barns, dorm rooms and all else that goes into a racing site would be a gigantic investment.”
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Graded-Stakes Winning Jockey Doug Thomas Dead At 78
Douglas Thomas, a graded-stakes winning jockey who raced primarily at Monmouth Park in the 1970's and 80's, died March 9 at the age of 78 according to an obituary written by R.G.C. Thomas and sent by the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association of New Jersey. An earner of over $21m in his career, Thomas retired in 1997 having made over 18,000 starts, many of them at tracks across New Jersey and New York. According to his obituary, Thomas was named the leading apprentice rider at Aqueduct in 1968 and was subsequently the leading rider at the Meadowlands in four consecutive years from 1977 to 1981.
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Jonathan Wong Still Searching For First Win In Louisiana
Trainer Jonathan Wong, who was hit with a two-year suspension by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) for a metformin positive, has resurfaced in Louisiana, where he has 15 horses at a private training center but has yet to visit the winner's circle. Wong sent out his first starter in Louisiana on Feb. 13. But the same trainer who had one of the biggest stables in Northern California has struggled there, sending out just five horses without a winner.
The plaintiff states of Louisiana and West Virginia won a preliminary injunction in federal court in July that will keep the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority's rules from being implemented in those two states until a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of HISA gets decided in full. Because he was not under a suspension issued by the Louisiana Racing Commission, Wong is being allowed to compete in the Bayou State.
Fair Grounds, which is owned by Churchill Downs Inc., did not give Wong any stalls but is allowing him to race.
Wong did not start a horse between July 1 and Feb. 13, when he sent out his first Louisiana runner, Desoto's War (Warrior's Reward). He has made just four starts at Fair Grounds and one at Delta Downs.
According to one of his owners, Brent Malmstrom, who is helping with Wong's legal fight, Wong had 141 horses before he was suspended.
Malmstrom and Wong have maintained that the trainer is innocent because the positive for the drug, which is used in humans to treat Type II diabetes, was a matter of environmental contamination.
Wong did not return phone calls from the TDN seeking comment.
“Jonathan Wong may have done some things in the past,” he said. “I can't speak to that. All I can speak to is this: he didn't do this. We don't know where the drug came from. It's odd that at point in time when all this happened almost half of the metformin positives occurred at Horseshoe Indianapolis.”
The horse that tested positive was Heaven and Earth (Gormley) and the positive was found after the filly won a June 1 maiden special weight race at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Malmstrom acknowledged that this has been a difficult situation for Wong.
“The sad thing about this whole thing is that this cost him his marriage,” he said. “He's got four little children. He's doing whatever he can to survive as I, along with our lawyers, work on the legal side to figure out how to get relief.”
Malmstrom said that most of the horses Wong trained before the suspension have been sent to other trainers.
“He lost his entire business,” he said. “The bulk of the horses he has in Louisiana are mine. I don't turn my back on people when they're at their lowest point in life. Louisiana has been incredibly welcoming and we thank them. People deserve an opportunity to defend themselves and should have the right to earn a living while they are defending themselves. That's a fundamental thing.”
The Fair Grounds meet ends on March 24. Malmstrom said that after Fair Grounds closes Wong will focus on the meet at Evangeline Downs, which opens April 7.
Wong has been training since 2014 and has 1,194 career wins. His best year came in 2021, when he saddled 236 winners and won at a rate of 23%.
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