Plan For New Chicago Track Forging Ahead Despite Big Differences In Gaming Law Interpretations

An Illinois businessman with a background in both real estate development and racehorses is actively putting together an investment team to build a new $180-million Thoroughbred racino about 35 miles south of Chicago. But even a year before the first shovels might break ground, controversy is swirling because of different interpretations of the enabling gaming law that is a linchpin for the project to proceed.

Ronald Aswumb, 68, who has owned and bred Thoroughbreds and also worked as a bloodstock consultant alongside his family's chief business of building malls and condominiums, told TDN in a Mar. 22 phone interview that he is 18 months into the planning process for bringing to life a track that he envisions as Lincoln Land Downs in a village called Richton Park.

“With the closing of Arlington we felt there was quite a void in the Chicago market for horse racing, and actually in the whole state,” Aswumb said. “We've looked at different potential properties all throughout the state. It is an ambitious project, and it's important that we keep it to scale.”

The project does not yet have the public support of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) because of the varying interpretations of the law.

“Let's not forget that this is Illinois. And anything relative to horse racing in Illinois is complicated and cumbersome,” David McCaffrey, the executive director of the ITHA, told TDN.

“A new racino in Richton Park is living up to those past performances,” McCaffrey added.

A spokesperson for Hawthorne Race Course, the Chicago area's only remaining Thoroughbred track, responded to a request for comment with an email that stated, “This idea is so speculative that anyone actually involved in the ongoing operations of Illinois horseracing, or who is truly interested in its future, should not take it seriously.”

McCaffrey explained the ITHA's understanding of the law this way: “The statute, as it stands now, only allows for a Standardbred track. So on the part of building a new racetrack and racino, he's within the law to do so. But two things need to happen: one, they need to have permission from Hawthorne, because it's within 35 miles of Hawthorne. And two, it has to be a Standardbred track. There's been some very cursory talk about another Thoroughbred outlet somewhere, but relative to that being at Lincoln Land any time soon I think is putting the cart way before the horse.”

Aswumb chalked up the views of the ITHA and Hawthorne as being based on “misinformation.” He added that his legal team has confirmed for him that Hawthorne's 35-mile veto power applies only to a Standardbred–and not a Thoroughbred–racino, and that he believes his racino application will be lawful based on Section 56 of the Illinois Horse Racing Act and Section 7.7 of the Illinois Gambling Act passed in 2019.

“The law is actually very clear. It states that anyone that has operating control of a racetrack anywhere in the state of Illinois may apply for a casino license,” Aswumb said.

“We've spent the last six months confirming that with the Illinois Gaming Board [IGB], and they're the only ones whose opinion really matters,” Aswumb said. “We met with the executive director and the general counsel two weeks ago, and they said if we had operating control of a racetrack and had received a racing license for dates, that we would meet the standard to apply for a casino license. I've been telling the horsemen that for six months, but you can't convince anybody, I guess.”

The location Aswumb has settled on would fit a 7- to 7.5-furlong main dirt track with a turf course inside of it. A temporary casino would go up first, to be eventually replaced by a larger, more permanent version, with the eventual possibility of building out a 100-room hotel and entertainment space.

“Our location is right off Interstate 57, which is a very highly trafficked area, and even though it's suburban, it's kind of a rural setting,” Aswumb said. “It's real pastoral. We have 140 acres that we're planning on building on. It's beautiful. It overlooks about a thousand acres of farmland. We have an option [to buy] it, and actually have the ability to get more land. There's a lot there.”

Aswumb said he is not yet ready to divulge full details about his investment partners because the deal is still a work in progress.

“We're in the financing process. It's still a little proprietary,” Aswumb said. “I can't tell you exactly the names behind it, but there are several large gaming companies that really want to diversify in the Chicago market. And we've also been working with a company in Kentucky that is involved in racing. I'm hoping in the next 60 days we'll fully list who our partners are.

“The timeline is we're putting the financing process together and finalizing the group,” Aswumb said. “We have to apply by July 31 with the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) to receive any dates in 2025. There's no plan to have any extensive racing in 2025. It would more likely be to get the track ready to have a couple of days of racing toward the end of the year just to establish the racing license, because we have to establish the racing license to go before the gaming board to get the casino license. Hopefully, we'd start construction on the track early next year when the weather breaks.”

Originally, Aswumb said, his intent was to build a harness racino, and he was aware that Hawthorne had veto power over that plan.

“They declined to give us written consent, which is their legal right to do. So we started looking at other ways to get this going, and there's nothing stopping us from doing a Thoroughbred track. The statute only applies to a Standardbred track, and obviously, we've confirmed that with [the IRB and IGB],” Aswumb said.

“There's kind of been disinformation the last few years that only the existing racetracks could get a casino license,” Aswumb continued. “The project is, of course, dependent on that. You need that alternative source of revenue to make the business model work. There's no guarantee you're going to get the license–you still have to go through all the [state vetting process]. But we have been told that we would be able to apply for that, and that was the big hurdle that we needed to clear to make the project go.”

Obtaining the temporary casino license is crucial, Aswumb said.

“We would like to do a temporary casino, which you are allowed to have for three years. The plan would be maybe to have 400-500 gaming positions in a temporary facility to get revenue coming in. It's very attractive to investors if you can get revenue coming in early like that. And then the process would be to have the permanent casino in approximately 2028 to 2029,” Aswumb said.

Aswumb said he wants to buck the industry trend of existing racinos that focus on gaming first and horses second. He wants it the other way around.

“We don't have quite enough room to do a mile dirt track, but we do have a lot of room for a really nice backstretch. We're going to have state-of-the-art barns, and an equine aquatics center and backstretch housing. I personally feel that horses are in their stalls too much, and we want trainers to be able to get them out an exercised at all times of the day.”

Aswumb said he's even talked to the Chicago Bears football team, which owns the defunct Arlington International Racecourse, about relocating the sod from the old grass course to Lincoln Land Downs.

“They still have been maintaining the turf course there beautifully, and they've been very open to that idea, but we're still in the testing phase to see if it would transfer properly,” Aswumb said.

Aswumb admitted that he has had zero talks with Hawthorne about forming a Thoroughbred circuit. Nor is he even close to negotiating a contract with the ITHA.

“I wouldn't say [Hawthorne would be] very supportive of us, really,” Aswumb said. “I have talked to the horsemen. They've been supportive but weary, like 'We've heard this before' kind of thing.”

Asked what type of racing season and purse structure he envisioned, Aswumb put it this way:

“Obviously we would like some summer dates if we have a turf course. We'd like to be able to get to like $250,000 at least in daily purses. So you could do maybe 75 to 80 dates a year, maybe race three days a week six months out of the year.

“The projections are we can do $100 million a year in adjusted gross revenue when we have the full casino, and approximately 13% of that goes toward purses,” Aswumb said. “When you combine that with off-track-betting parlors [and their] projected handle, we think we could get to $15 to $20 million in purses a year. And if we could do that, I think the horsemen would be happy.”

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The Week In Review: After 2,000 Wins The Hard Way, Next Goal For Murphy Is Retirement

After 3 1/2 decades in the saddle, Cindy Murphy knows all too well how fate lurks with every hoofbeat when you're a jockey. Occasionally though, chance and risk manifest themselves in the form of good karma on the racetrack. On Saturday night at Prairie Meadows, the rewarding circumstances of the 61-year-old jockey's 2,000th career win seemed almost too scripted to be true.

Murphy's landmark victory aboard Crypto Mo (Mohaymen) in the July 8 GIII Iowa Oaks was her first lifetime graded stakes win after 18,131 lifetime mounts. It was also a neat “full circle” score for the Iowa native, because Murphy (who previously rode under the last names Springman and Noll) had piloted the first-ever winner in the history of Prairie Meadows when that track first opened in 1989.

Win number 2,000 also came with a family connection–Crypto Mo is trained and part-owned by her husband, Travis Murphy. Redemption also played a starring role: A little more than a year ago, that very same filly, then age two, flipped out in the starting gate at Prairie Meadows prior to her debut. Murphy sustained eight broken ribs, four pelvic fractures, and a tear in her abdominal wall, knocking her out of action until Apr. 1 this year.

“I know the screenwriters' guild is on strike, but Hollywood is missing out on a fantastic story here,” quipped the Prairie Meadows racing secretary, Stuart Slagle, when TDN phoned the racing office Sunday morning to track down a phone number for Murphy.

“It was perfect,” Murphy said with a buoyant laugh when reached a few minutes later. “I couldn't have planned it better, to be honest with you.”

Murphy–unlike some jockeys who seem to linger for a long time on the cusp of a milestone win–had only been parked at the 1,999 plateau for six days and a span of just four mounts. But that round number of two grand had been in her head as a target for almost half her lifetime.

“When I first started, I could envision 2,000 wins because I was rolling as a younger rider,” Murphy said. “The first thousand came along a little easier and quicker than the second thousand. I thought it would come a lot sooner, to be honest with you. I started getting injured. Then I stopped to have a few children, so it took me awhile. But if you had asked me five years ago? I would have said no, I'm not going to make it.”

Murphy graduated from Iowa's Muscatine High School in 1980 as an all-state track and cross-country runner. She starred in those two sports at Northeast Missouri State University, where she graduated with a focus in equine studies as one of the top 10 agriculture students in her class. She was later inducted into that college's athletic hall of fame, but by the time that happened in 1999, Murphy had long since transitioned from running in races to horsebacking in them instead.

Starting first as an exercise rider, and then trying her luck as a jockey in South America, Murphy's first victory came in Argentina in 1986. She relocated to Florida and won her first stateside race at Tampa Bay Downs on Dec. 8, 1987. After stints in the mid-Atlantic and a brief foray to New York, Murphy returned to the Midwest after outriding her apprentice allowances.

By 1994, Murphy was a Prairie Meadows mainstay at or near the top of the standings. Through the remainder of that decade she emerged as the nation's winningest woman rider on several occasions. She racked up lifetime score number 1,000 at Hawthorne Race Course in 1998, and also that year established a Prairie Meadows meet record with 112 victories.

A spate of injuries took their toll on Murphy as the 21st Century dawned, slowing her down, but not stopping her. In 2001, she fractured six bones, including her pelvis and ribs, in an Oaklawn Park accident. In 2004, she was sidelined by a broken wrist.

For a while, May 11, 2006, looked like it would be not only Murphy's last day in the saddle, but perhaps the last day she ever walked: A Prairie Meadows mount stumbled out of the gate, veered into another horse, and sent Murphy careening headfirst into the dirt.

“I broke my neck, and I had to be life-flighted to the hospital,” Murphy said on Sunday, recalling the accident matter-of-factly. “I was kind of paralyzed for a week, and I slowly came out of it. They weren't sure I was going to come out of it. But I'm one of the lucky ones, and I did.”

The severity of the spill was initially enough to cause Murphy to call it quits, acting upon the advice of her doctors. She had a surgery that fused her C5, C6 and C7 vertebrae together, and wistfully told the Des Moines Register, “I sure wanted to reach 2,000 wins, but my health is more important to me.”

Murphy and her husband, Travis, had bought a 160-acre farm near Remington Park in Oklahoma shortly before that accident, and she began contemplating other career choices, like going back to school to get a nursing degree. The couple, at that time, had begun focusing on legging up horses for outside clients. But eventually, without the pressure of pointing for another comeback or the day-to-day rigors of the racetrack, Murphy said the farm work with the horses won her over again. In 2008, she returned to competing in races at age 46.

“I really wasn't going to come back to riding,” she said. “But I started messing around, getting on a few. And then I guess I'm a little bit on the crazy side, and I wanted to ride a few more. And then I started creeping closer to 2,000, so I thought, 'Well, why not give it a shot?'”

Although that number remained etched in her brain, Murphy told TDN that the one thing she wouldn't grant any headspace to was the thought of getting hurt.

“I always tell the younger riders, if you get scared out there, you better hang it up. Because that's not a good thing when you're riding scared,” Murphy said.

Murphy's riding workload isn't what it used to be, and she hasn't topped 27 wins in a year in any of the past 15 seasons. She had a 2-for-26 record in 2022, with that season being cut short on June 19 when Crypto Mo sent Murphy on yet another unplanned vacation of rehab and recuperation, just eight wins shy of 2,000.

Despite her gate histrionics, the filly herself was not injured. With Cassidy Fletcher subbing for Murphy, Crypto Mo eventually debuted on July 17, 2022, and managed to win one of her first five starts. Early on as a sprinter, she didn't flash enough talent to suggest she'd be a future graded stakes victress.

But that changed on May 28, 2023, when, after having been reunited with Murphy, Crypto Mo stretched out to two turns for the first time and wired a first-level allowance at Prairie Meadows by a whopping 17 3/4 lengths.

Cindy Murphy rides Crypto Mo | Coady Photography

Crypto Mo, who cost $20,000 as a KEESEP yearling, then wired the $50,000 Panthers S. over a mile at Prairie Meadows June 10. On Saturday night, Murphy again asked her for speed from the get-go, and Crypto Mo was never headed in the $225,000 stakes, running her record to 4-for-8 while bankrolling $210,870 in earnings for the partnership of Travis Murphy, Matt Trent, and Triple V Racing. On Sunday, Crypto Mo was supplemented to the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale.

“I thought win number 2,000 would come the previous weekend, when I was on a couple of live horses,” Murphy said. “And then [Friday} I had a horse that had a shot, but he didn't do it. But when the win finally came on Saturday, it was even better, because this was the filly I got hurt on last year, and it's one of ours, from our connections.

“We had a lot of supportive crowd there, so that meant a lot. Even trainer Dale Romans, he came in [and won] one of the big races, and he congratulated me and said, 'Man, ever since I set foot in Iowa, nobody can quit talking about you and hoping you would get your 2,000th win.'” Murphy recalled.

Asked what goal is next now that she's equaled the benchmark she's been chasing for decades, Murphy didn't hesitate in replying.

“I am almost 62 years old, and I promised my kids and my grandkids that I would retire soon. So I am going to finish up the Prairie Meadows meet and I am going to hang up my tack,” Murphy said.

“I need to spend more time with the grandkids. I've got five of them now. I go trail riding with them at the farm. We've got a bunch of soccer players in the family, so I'm always going to the kids' games. And my youngest son is going into his sophomore year at college. He's a big track star, and I go to all of his track meets. It will just give me more time to get to things like this, to spend more time with the family,” Murphy said.

“I'll probably help Travis train, and be his right-hand woman, so to speak. I'll probably still gallop and work horses for him. I don't get on the babies that much anymore; they're a little bit more unpredictable. But I am going to retire from race riding,” Murphy said.

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Illinois Purse Increases: ‘A Band-Aid On A Gushing Wound’

Purses will be on the short-term rise at the tracks in Illinois, thanks to a pair of recent money recovery efforts initiated by the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA).

One increase at the current Thoroughbred meet at Hawthorne Race Course that will be effective June 15-July 15 involves an 18% across-the-board purse bump derived from a claw-back of funds related to the closure of Arlington International Racecourse.

A separate initiative required passage of a bill in the Illinois Legislature on its final day of the session last month. That action transferred $5.1 million of a surplus in the state's Horse Racing Fund to purses at both the Thoroughbred and Standardbred meets at Hawthorne, plus the Thoroughbred meet at FanDuel Racing (more commonly known as Fairmount Park).

David McCaffrey, the ITHA's executive director, told commissioners at Thursday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting that while horsemen are grateful for any help they can get, the influxes will only provide temporary financial relief.

“This is a terrific band-aid,” McCaffrey said, speaking specifically about the money from the Horse Racing Fund. “Make no mistake, it's a band-aid on a gushing wound that is Illinois racing, because things are at their all-time worst right now.”

According to an explanation posted in the ITHA's website, After Arlington closed in September 2021, that track's corporate management “attempted to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars from the horsemen's purse account. Arlington eventually folded in its attempt to keep the money after ITHA pursued litigation against Arlington, compelling the track to release the money. ITHA is now directing the remaining settlement funds to Hawthorne purses, which will account for the purse increase from June 15 to July 15.”

The separate $5.1-million transfer comes from the Horse Racing Fund, which McCaffrey said is largely derived from a 1.5% tax on all bets placed on Illinois racing. Traditionally, that fund accumulates and operates at surplus, and it had grown to “about $10 million” by the beginning of 2023, McCaffrey said.

Starting back in January, McCaffrey said, The ITHA, the IRB, and other stakeholders had lobbied for the passage of a law that would direct about half of the surplus toward Thoroughbred and Standardbred purses.

The ITHA's website noted that the Hawthorne share for the Thoroughbred purse account will be $2.295 million, and that the increase from the fund will go into effect “possibly starting in mid-July, upon the expiration of the [separate] purse increase beginning June 15.”

Racinos became legal in Illinois in 2019, but they aren't up and running yet at Hawthorne or FanDuel.

“Hopefully, it gives us a bridge to get to racinos when they start producing some revenue,” McCaffrey said.

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Hawthorne Swaps Saturdays For Thursdays For Remainder Of Season

Hawthorne Race Course will swap out Saturdays in favor of Thursdays for the upcoming June-through-Labor Day portion of its season, continuing a schedule switch that the Chicago-area track began with the current spring meet.

The Illinois Racing Board (IRB) granted the change with a unanimous vote at its Apr. 20 meeting.

Right now Hawthorne is racing on a Thursday-and-Sunday schedule. The changes will go into effect starting May 31, when the meet expands to three days: Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Post times are 2:30 p.m. Central.

Jim Miller, Hawthorne's racing director, explained to IRB members the reasoning behind the request to move off of Saturdays.

“Fortunately, things have actually worked really well just in the first four or five weeks of the meet here, because originally we were going to race on Saturdays and Sundays in the spring,” Miller said. “And just finding the amount of competition on Saturdays usually had our handle somewhere around $900,00 per card on a Saturday. By shifting to Thursdays, there's been less competition, more exposure for us [via simulcasting], and actually on Thursdays we're averaging close to $2 million per card in handle.

“For comparison purposes, last year in the spring meet our average handle per card was about $1.2 million. Right now we're just over $1.6 million. So the belief is by kind of continuing this trend during the summer by racing Wednesday-Thursday-Sunday, you'll have a lot more exposure on Wednesday and Thursday compared to a Saturday card when you're starting to get to the bigger meets [and it's] so hard to compete.

Miller pointed out that the schedule change allows for the dovetailing of dates with FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing (formerly Fairmount Park), some 275 miles to the southwest, which races on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

“It works for everybody. It works for handle in the state,” Miller said. “It works for the riders who try to ride and make a living at both racetracks. The horsemen have the ability to go to both of these racetracks as well. Even though it is not a perfect world where you have five straight days of racing at one location, at least there's five days of racing within the state.”

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