One Life in a Box: Richard Hazelton

For nearly three years, a frayed cardboard box has hidden in the corner of a small apartment in the Westside of Los Angeles, buried from view by wooly blankets, a tennis racket with broken strings, worn clothes long earmarked for the thrift store and an old jacket with a broken zipper and patched leather sleeves.

The box is filled mostly with creaky photo albums stuffed full of old newspaper clippings pasted onto faded paper, laminated win pictures–the plastic as brittle as sheet-ice–and handwritten letters. There are magazines and an old DVD and family photographs taken when Kodak shops weren't just a punchline for Millennials.

The box has remained undisturbed for years–since its subject, trainer Richard Pierce Hazelton, passed away–only to be unearthed during a spring clean, quite by chance, near the anniversary of his passing in 2019 when he was 88.

“King Richard” lies 10th on America's all-time winning-most trainer list, 4,745 victories officially to his name. Between Hawthorne, Arlington and Sportsman's Park alone, he held 36 individual training titles. For those counting, add another 15 from Turf Paradise.

But like many such boxes–dusty treasure troves stuffed into corner or closet and brought out only occasionally–its narrow scope, a few scattered years among decades, holds something of a frustrating paradox.

While offering up much so more than just its contents, the box still feels an unsatisfying relic, the memories hidden within telling only fragments, leaving one to wonder at what else has already slipped entirely away.

“If Hazelton trains 'em… he's a runner…”

On May 21, 1971, Ellyn Shaunahoff sat down to what one imagines was a desk overlooking a pretty primrose garden and put pen to paper–in florid cursive baby-blue ballpoint–to ask Hazelton for any information on Maxwell G., then a prolific winner in less than prolific contests.

Maxwell G. had been Shaunahoff's favorite horse since attending her first race meet at Hollywood Park on April 19, 1969.

“I have followed him ever since and have cheered his stretch runs many a time,” she writes. “I've been to Del Mar, Santa Anita and even Turf Paradise to see him race.”

At that point in time, Ellyn assumed the then-10-year-old had retired, saying he had “about reached the age limit for racing.” As it turned out, Shaunahoff was a little premature in relegating the old veteran to pipe and slipper.

“There must be a fountain of youth hidden somewhere in Chicago,” wrote the Illinois scribe, Neil Milbert, about the 11-year-old, who had just scored his third victory in a row at Arlington Park just one year later. Even then, AARP was forced to hold fire on sending their magazine to the horse fans called “Maxie.”

Indeed, it wasn't until five years later, in 1977, that Maxwell G. ran his last race when the “grizzled gelding,” as one writer put it, was but a supple 16-year-old.

Maxwell G. in a clipping found in Hazelton's box of memories | Courtesy of Dan Ross

“Grizzled” really doesn't do the horse justice. A picture from 1972 shows Maxie–tall, raw-boned, yet handsome in elder statesman fashion–standing serenely beside his groom, large ears pinned forward as though gathering radio signals.

By the time of his swan song, Maxwell G. had won 47 out of a staggering 233 career starts, not all for Hazelton, who had claimed him for $1,000 at Yakima Meadows, in Washington, in May of 1965 (another story has it that Hazelton claimed him for $6,200 in 1968 at the Los Angeles County Fair).

It was Hazelton's touch, however, that gave this lowly claimer the veneer of a celluloid star.

The Chicago Sun-Times claimed that Maxwell G., at the height of his fame, brought thousands of fans to the track, lured by his Houdini-like theatrics, when he would race far off the pace before making “a bold bid to win,” as one writer prosaically put it.

Another scribe describes this last gasp maneuver with a tad more relish: “Typically, he will start a race slowly, plodding along behind the field until about the quarter-mile from the finish. Then he will swing wide and make a mad dash for the wire.”

By the time Hazelton had turned 80, memories of his own life were hazy or as terse as Hemingway's prose.

“My dad was involved in horse racing,” he told the poor writer of a Hawthorne Racecourse program, one obviously hoping for Horatio Alger. “I went to live with him when I was seven or eight years old. He had horses. I started galloping them and then I started riding them when I was 14.”

Not exactly edge of the seat stuff.

Hazelton's stint as an apprentice rider can hardly be deemed a bust, not when, south of the border, fans referred to him as “El Ricardo.” But here's his own take on that brief spell, 65 years later.

“I first rode in Phoenix. That's where I was born and raised. I was the leading rider at Caliente in Mexico in 1945. I went to work for the Klein Cattle Company after my stint as a jockey.”

A baby-faced Hazelton (far left, seated) | Courtesy of Dan Ross

When it came to his horses, however, Hazelton's mind suddenly illuminated, as though a bolt of lightning had passed through it.

“I lost him three or four times but I always claimed him back,” Hazelton remembered, of Maxwell G. “He was a favorite of announcer Phil Georgeff. I remember they took him to the paddock in front of the grandstand and gave him two bushel baskets full of apples. They even named a race for him at Sportsman's and ran it for a few years.”

Hazelton added, proudly: “He was the only horse that was ever on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.”

The 1974 front page Wall Street Journal story in question wouldn't pass editorial muster by today's standards.

“If ever a racehorse was a candidate for the glue factory, it was Maxwell G.,” the story begins, in Dickensian fashion, explaining how poor Maxie, at the age of five, suffered a badly injured left foot, snagged in barbed wire while out punching cattle.

Hazelton would manage the problem appendage with a special shoe that eased the pressure on it. Maxwell G. would repay this favor through what's described in the Journal as “calm affection” and a willingness to “nuzzle strangers.”

As Hazelton put it, “He wouldn't give a nickel for an earthquake.”

Stable hands, the Journal notes, adored the horse.

“When another owner bought Maxwell G. in a claiming race two years ago, one stable hand came to Mr. Hazelton in tears, threatening to quit if he didn't buy back Maxwell G.,” writes the Journal. Hazelton did what was demanded of him.

“What's really amazing is that he's done it the hard way, a nickel and dime at a time,” Hazelton said of the horse's career–an assessment seemingly apropos of the trainer himself and so many of his trainees.

Take Full Pocket, a horse a Sportsman's Park program writer described as one of the “finest” Hazelton ever trained. He was certainly one of the nation's finest and fastest handicap sprinters during that era. In 1973, he won more than $200,000 and was second in the Eclipse Award balloting to champion Shecky Greene for Sprinter of the Year.

Special mention goes to Full Pocket's 3-year-old “reign of terror at Sportsman's.”

This included the “dandy young star's” imperious victory in the $38,400 National Jockey Club Handicap, before a Labor Day crowd of nearly 24,000, when he led home stablemate Moonsplash for “Cowboy Richard,” as one contemporary reporter coined the trainer.

Postage stamp Full Pocket was hardly a Colossus of Rhodes, “something breeders will hold against him,” one miser once noted. But that didn't stop breeders from trying anyway.

By the time the horse retired to stud at Hurstland Farm, in Kentucky–a good outcross to mares with Nearco blood, noted the 1974 Stallion Directory and Farm Register–Full Pocket had won 27 of his 47 lifetime starts and placed in 14 others. He also won 17 stakes and was placed in 11 more.

Again, Hazelton's 80-year-old mind came alive at the horse's memory. “He was one of the reasons I came to Chicago,” said the native of Arizona. “I brought him from the yearling sale for Mr. Bensinger, of the Brunswick Corporation. He named all of his horses. We paid $18,000. That was a lot of money back then. He was never a great sire, but he certainly was a runner.”

Dates and details, places and people–the box is something of a scramble of puzzle pieces sharing oftentimes conflicting information, giving the trainer a shape-shifting quality that somehow only sweetens the myth.

Part of the reason appears to be the man's aversion to the press. As one scribe put it, “I tried to interview him for years but Mr. Hazelton didn't like to talk about himself–or to me.”

One such seemingly slippery fact surrounds his age.

“Jockey records in 1945 list him as having been born in 1929,” wrote longtime Sportsman's Park fixture Don Grisham, of Hazelton's Icarus-like career in the saddle for his father, George. “As a supposed 16-year-old in '45, he finished among top apprentice riders in North America.”

Grisham's “supposed” does a lot of heavy lifting, for the minimum age for apprentices back then was 16.

“However, in those days, it was possible for an underage youngster to get by stewards and begin riding before turning 16. There is reason to believe Hazleton might have fallen into in this category. It is a matter of record he emerged a riding star at Arizona tracks and Caliente. One nine-race card at Caliente, he rode six winners, two seconds, and a third during a single afternoon.”

The melting sun to Hazleton's Icarus dream was biological. “Increasing weight soon terminated his saddle career,” Grisham noted, with blunt assessment.

The handwritten win photo date with Hazelton aside the horse is 1948 | Courtesy of Dan Ross

What happened then depends upon the bard.

One version is that Hazelton returned to his studies in Phoenix, where the natural athlete became a prep school football star. Another is that he became a mainstay of the Southwestern rodeo circuit. Either way, it wasn't long before the Stetson-loving Arizonan turned his hand to training. Some reports pin the date as late as 1957. A tattered win picture from 1948 lists Hazelton as the trainer.

“After struggling for a while to saddle his first winner, the day finally came in Silver City, New Mexico. But Richard would have to wait until he was 26-years-old for his first 'bread-'n-butter' horse, a $500 claimer named Foxation,” one profiler made of Hazelton's early years with a license.

The box yields precious little of Foxation but considerably more of Zip Pocket, whom Hazelton saddled in 1967 to a 5 1/2-furlong world record of :55 1/2. The following year, Zip Pocket set a world record of 1:07 1/5 for three-quarters of a mile.

“Was it because of the biochemicals sprayed on the track or is Zip Pocket really that fast?” asked writer Pete Peters, after the horse's winning appearance at Turf Paradise.

Peters, a brylcreemed pipe-smoking staff writer for the Gazette, had the full-faced appearance of someone with limited athletic inclination. This is in stark contrast to the typical Hazelton runner, jettisoned into racing folklore as though shot from a cannon.

“If Hazelton trains 'em… he's a runner…” one observer described it. An early example was the Rudy Krize-owned “speed-geared grey colt” Wandering Boy, who came out on top in a $3,500 winner-takes-all duel at Turf Paradise against the Quarter Horse, Arizonan.

The clippings bear no date, but given how weathered is the tissue-thin newspaper, the late 1960s seem a safe bet. The following decade the trainer stepped it up another gear, with much of his success hinged upon bringing an army of horses West to East before commandeering the Chicago claiming circuit to make room for fresh legs.

“Contrary to rumors, Richard Hazelton did not suggest this dinner. Hal has claimed 11 horses off Richard this year and won only one race with the sum total,” said trainer Bill Resseguet, at a dinner–which sounds more like a roast–organized by the Chicago chapter of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association in honor of trainer Hal Bishop.

“I realize Richard is most appreciative of unloading those 11 horses,” Resseguet deadpanned.

The observation, though couched in jest, provides a useful entry point into the subject's character.

On the one hand, Hazelton is made as inscrutable as an IRS inspector.

“Husky,” one scribe calls him. Another, “a man of few words.” “Taciturn.” A “dark-browed horseman who prefers boots and Stetson.” And a “modest wonder man from Arizona” with “his ever-present cowboy hat and slow Western drawl.”

Yet ambition doesn't run on empty fumes alone.

Richard Hazelton | Courtesy of Dan Ross

To the Chicago Sun-Times, Hazelton let slip the mask. “It's been a difficult job,” Hazelton said of plans to reach 5,000 wins, “but I have been averaging approximately 134 winners a year so maybe in the year 2001 I can brag of what I did in less than 40 years.”

The pipe-puffing Pete Peters managed to elicit from Hazelton another rare peek through the same slim aperture. “I finally landed him,” crowed Hazelton about the wealthy businessman, Harold Florsheim, who Hazelton lured to his owners' ranks for the 1966-67 Turf Paradise racing season.

“I've been after him for a long time but I couldn't convince him to come West with his horses,” Hazelton added. “He finally consented. He's got some good stock.”

Modeling the trainer's work ethic, Don Grisham at Sportsman's Park turned to a quote of Hemingway's: “You got to learn something: Never confuse movement for action.”

As Grisham put it, “There is always tote action on Hazelton-trained horses. As for the movement, Hazelton was in Kentucky Friday to inspect yearlings with Harold Florsheim, the shoe magnate. He jetted back in time to saddle two winners on Saturday's card, including Glory Run in the $22,425 Crete Handicap.”

In her husband, Marge Hazelton–a champion calf roper and an integral part of the story–saw an “uncanny ability to remember all the horses on the grounds and what they have done in each of their races. His memory helps him put our horses in races in which they have a good chance of winning.”

With her husband's ego evidently in mind, Marge added: “He can't remember anything else, of course.”

Then comes Dr. Richard Radke, the former orthodontist and a key patron of Hazelton's over decades.

Radke believed his trainer of having “one of the highest IQs of anyone I've ever met, but not many people are aware of that because he's so modest and quiet,” or so he told John McEvoy of the Daily Racing Form.

Hazelton's parsimonious approach to shared connection had some unintended side effects.

“There have been a few times that we didn't have the best communication,” Radke added, warmly. “Times like when I'd call up Richard and ask about one of my horses, and Richard would say, 'Oh, I sold him for you. I guess I didn't call you about that.'”

Given how often the search for a father's approval launches the hero's journey–or so says Joseph Campbell–perhaps the most telling insight is from Hazelton's own tongue, shared on the back of a Sportsman's Park program in a potted bio in which we also learn the trainer's favorite food (steak) and favorite movie (“Shawshank Redemption”).

“I'm very proud of my father, George. He was a real 'man's man',” Hazelton said. “He had that rare ability, I think we call it charisma, to draw people to him.”

Believed to be a Hazelton shedrow | Courtesy of Dan Ross

“Arlington builds a great deal right around you”

Where naval gazing has now become all but a national occupation, Hazelton offers a refreshing alternative, one very much of its time, when exterior interests held almost exclusively one's private inward-lit gaze.

The box is a sobering reminder of this at a time when it can feel as though the coattails of horse racing have snagged on some fast-moving bullet train, dragging it forward to goodness knows where, bumping and somersaulting, never able to quite get its footing. For it is not lost how Hazelton's favorite playgrounds are now an aberration of his memory–Arlington a tumbleweed ghost town and Turf Paradise a derelict disgrace.

So, why not turn to the architects of this collection of halcyon summers for advice on where indeed to tread now–people like Richard Duchossois, then Arlington's chairman when in May of 2011 he wrote to Hazelton the sort of letter one imagines rarely escapes today's sterile racetrack boardrooms.

“We are delighted you have returned to Arlington,” Duchossois wrote, when the trainer had all but stored away for good the stable's shingle. “You are one of the staples of Arlington and Arlington builds a great deal right around you.”

He wasn't wrong–a good deal right was built around Hazelton. And so, after all, maybe it's okay if the box contains only a sliver of the great arc that constitutes a life greatly lived, just as long as every now and then such memoirs are unearthed, rediscovered anew, spread out across the floor in the evening lamplight by the kneeling archeologist with a lump in their throat.

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Richard Duchossois, Former Arlington Park Chairman, Passes At 100

Richard L. Duchossois, the former owner of Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Ill., and known throughout the racing world as a tireless promoter of the sport and a gracious host at big events, died at the age of 100 Friday morning at his Barrington Hills home in suburban Chicago.

Born Oct 7, 1921, Duchossois graduated from Morgan Park Military Academy and was called in to active military service during World War II while attending Washington and Lee University in Virginia. He served in five European campaigns as a tank commander under Gen. George Patton and received numerous citations before being released from active duty as a Major in 1946.

From 1952-'80, Duchossois was CEO of Thrall Car Manufacturing Company, one of the nation's leading railcar manufacturers. In 1980, he purchased Chamberlain Manufacturing Corp. and became its chairman.

In 1983, as chairman of The Duchossois Group, he purchased Arlington Park from partners and led its rebuilding after a disastrous fire in 1985. Though he did not create the Arlington Million (that distinction belongs to the late Joseph Joyce Jr., who came up with the idea for the world's first million-dollar horse race when the track was owned by Madison Square Garden), Duchossois promoted it as only he could. He also conceived a special event in 1996 for Cigar's attempt to win his 16th consecutive race, equalling Citation's win streak. An earlier attempt to card a special race that would bring rivals Easy Goer and Sunday Silence to Arlington in 1990 failed to materialize when both horses suffered career ending injuries.

In 2000, Arlington Park merged with Churchill Downs, Inc. Duchossois became the single largest shareholder in Churchill Downs Inc. and still maintained a firm hold on Arlington Park's activities well into his 90s.

His ownership of Arlington was not without controversy. He closed the track down for two years in 1998-'99, upset that Illinois legislators would not budge on granting additional gaming to racetracks in order to compete with casino riverboats. Ironically, when legislators were persuaded to grant casino gambling to racetracks a few years ago, Churchill Downs leadership opted not to seek a casino license for Arlington Park. Instead the property was put up for sale and a deal was reached last year to sell Arlington to the Chicago Bears of the NFL for the construction of a football stadium.

Arlington likely ran its last race in 2021, with the Arlington Million's purse reduced and its name changed to the Mr. D. Stakes to honor Duchossois.

In addition to his ownership of Arlington, Duchossois at one time was an active Thoroughbred owner and breeder, basing his operations at his Hill 'n Dale in Barrington Hills.

Duchossois was a philanthropist throughout his life. His largest known donation was a $21 million gift to the University of Chicago for an outpatient medical center. His first wife, Beverly, for whom the Beverly D Stakes was named, succumbed to cancer after care and treatment at that facility.

Duchossois is survived by his second wife Mary Judith; son Craig; daughters Dayle (Fortino) and Kimberly; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In addition to his first wife Beverly, he was preceded in death by a son, Bruce.

There will be no visitation because of COVID-19 and services and burial will be private.

Reactions on the passing of Richard Duchossois

“We are profoundly saddened today by the loss of Richard Duchossois. He was a tireless champion of Churchill Downs and thoroughbred racing. His impact on those of us involved in this industry was simply immeasurable. He was a mentor and friend to so many in Churchill Downs, most especially me, and we will all miss his grace, wisdom and humor. His contributions to Churchill Downs and thoroughbred racing were merely a small part of his extraordinary life. They call his generation 'America's Greatest' and to be fortunate to spend time with this man was to be in the presence of a truly special individual who led a full life of sacrifice, commitment and service to others. We will mourn him, miss him and wonder if there could ever be another like Richard Duchossois.”  – Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs Inc.

“Richard L. Duchossois was a great American who served his country valiantly during World War II, and later served the Thoroughbred industry with great honor and distinction. Very few individuals exhibited the drive and determination of Mr. Duchossois in his very full and successful life. Following a devastating fire that destroyed the Arlington Park grandstand in 1985, he conducted the Arlington Million under tents, and it was dubbed as the 'Miracle Million.' He then rebuilt Arlington Park into one of the shining jewels of all racetracks. Mr. Duchossois propelled the Arlington Million into a top international showcase and paved the way for further interest in global competition among the world's top Thoroughbreds. It was our great pleasure to bring the 2002 Breeders' Cup to Arlington Park with Mr. Duchossois at the helm. We cherish his legacy and extend our deepest condolences to the Duchossois family.”  – Breeders' Cup

“On behalf of Illinois thoroughbred owners and trainers, we extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Dick Duchossois.

“Mr. D served our nation with distinction and thereafter brought his enduring tenacity and exceptional work ethic to the helm of Arlington Park — a track he worked to build into a world-class destination for thoroughbred horse racing.

“As we mourn his loss, we are reminded of his immense contributions to thoroughbred racing in North America, most especially here in Illinois. His imprint on the sport and industry was vast and will not be forgotten.” – Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association

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Richard Duchossois Passes Away at 100

Richard Duchossois, the businessman whose name was synonymous with Arlington Park, a track he bought in 1983, has passed away. He was 100.

Duchossois was born in 1921 in Chicago and was a graduate of Washington and Lee University. He joined the Army in 1942 and became the commander of Company C of the 610th Tank Destroyer Battalion, which landed on Utah Beach in Normandy. He served in five European campaigns and later served as the military governor for the region of Eichstatt. He was released from active service in 1946 and was awarded the Purple Heart and two bronze stars.

After the war, he became the CEO and president of the Thrall Manufacturing Company, a company founded in 1916 that specialized in repairing and leasing rail cars. In 1978, the company diversified by buying The Chamberlain Group, a maker of consumer goods and defense products. In 1983, Duchossois bought out the Thrall family and renamed the company Duchossois Industries, Inc. The business would later diversify and operate as both an investment company and a company that makes access control systems such as garage door openers.

Duchossois started in the racing business as an owner and a breeder and operated out of Hill 'N' Dale Farm in Barrington, Illinois, which developed into one of the top breeders in the state. Over the years, he campaigned a number of stakes horses, including Eclair de Lune (GER) (Marchand de Sable), who won the 2011 running of the GI Beverly D. S., a race he named after his late wife.

In 1983, Duchossois Industries bought Arlington Park, then the flagship track among the Chicago racing circuit, from Gulf & Western. On July 31, 1985 Duchossois was returning from a birthday celebration when he received a phone call that Arlington was on fire. He arrived at the track by helicopter to watch as all five levels of the grandstand were engulfed in flames. The track was destroyed. Read more here.

In less than a month, Arlington was scheduled to run the GI Arlington Million, the sport's first $1-million race. Undeterred, Duchossois vowed to hold the race.

“Some people said it would be impossible, but I said, 'I'm the owner, and we're going to run the Million race. Period,'” he told the Chicago Tribune in 2015.

Arlington employees worked around the clock to erect tents and makeshift stands and the race, dubbed the “Miracle Million,” was held with more than 35,000 people in attendance. Recognizing the efforts it took to be able to hold the Million, the Arlington team was honored with a special Eclipse Award.

It took four years for Arlington to be rebuilt and Duchossois was not content to build just another racetrack. Renaming the track Arlington International Race Course, Duchossois set out to create one of the most beautiful tracks in the world, putting an estimated $175 million into the rebuild.

“I've always worked to please our customers,” Duchossois told the Associated Press in 2021. “There's nothing we have done there that hasn't been built for the customers.”

Arlington enjoyed another moment in the spotlight when Cigar was lured to the track in 1996 in an attempt to tie Citation's record of 16 straight wins. Cigar won the $1,050,000 race, called the Citation Challenge, before a crowd of 34,223. In 2002, Arlington hosted the Breeders' Cup.

In 2000, Duchossois negotiated a $72-million stock deal which allowed Churchill Downs to take over Arlington Park. The transaction made Duchossois, at the time, the largest shareholder in the Churchill Company.

“We believe that Churchill Downs' business strategy and its commitment to excellence are aligned with our own operating philosophy,” Duchossois said at the time. “We have the shared vision of dedication to customer service and a commitment to the live racing experience and the growth of simulcast sales.”

While Duchossois remained the face of Arlington Park for several years after it was purchased by Churchill, Churchill's focus soon started to drift from racing to gaming. In 2019, Churchill announced that it would not apply for a license to open a casino at Arlington and would, instead, close the track after the end of the 2021 season. It is believed that Churchill did not want an Arlington casino to compete with a casino it owns in nearby Des Plaines, Illinois.  What will likely be the last ever race run at Arlington was held Sept. 25, 2021. Arlington first raced in 1927.

Under Churchill, the Arlington Million underwent a name change in 2021 to the Mister D. Stakes, in honor of Duchossois. The purse was reduced to $600,000.

Somewhat surprisingly, Duchossois was publicly supportive of Churchill's decision to close and sell the track.

“I think Churchill has two of the finest managers in the country,” he told the AP.

Duchossois earned many honors in racing, including the American Jockey Club's Gold Medal and the Joe Palmer Award for Meritorious Service to Racing from the National Turf Writers Association. He was inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and named one of their Pillars of the Turf in 2019.

Tributes:

“We are profoundly saddened today by the loss of Richard Duchossois. He was a tireless champion of Churchill Downs and thoroughbred racing. His impact on those of us involved in this industry was simply immeasurable. He was a mentor and friend to so many in Churchill Downs, most especially me, and we will all miss his grace, wisdom and humor. His contributions to Churchill Downs and thoroughbred racing were merely a small part of his extraordinary life. They call his generation 'America's Greatest' and to be fortunate to spend time with this man was to be in the presence of a truly special individual who led a full life of sacrifice, commitment and service to others. We will mourn him, miss him and wonder if there could ever be another like Richard Duchossois.” -Churchill Downs Incorporated CEO Bill Carstanjen

“On behalf of Illinois Thoroughbred owners and trainers, we extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Dick Duchossois.

“Mr. D served our nation with distinction and thereafter brought his enduring tenacity and exceptional work ethic to the helm of Arlington Park–a track he worked to build into a world-class destination for Thoroughbred horse racing.

“As we mourn his loss, we are reminded of his immense contributions to Thoroughbred racing in North America, most especially here in Illinois. His imprint on the sport and industry was vast and will not be forgotten.” -Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association

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Craig Duchossois: Blame Politicians, Not Churchill Downs For Arlington Park’s Demise

Craig Duchossois, son of former Arlington Park owner Richard Duchossois, said Illinois politicians are to blame for the pending demise of the suburban Chicago racetrack owned by publicly traded Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI).

In an interview with the Daily Herald, Duchossois said the 2019 legislation that gave Illinois racetracks the right to operate a casino came “too late” for Arlington Park. By the time the law passed, CDI already had purchased an interest in the Rivers Casino, about 10 miles away from Arlington Park. It now is the casino's majority owner.

Illinois horsemen were stunned when CDI officials announced months after the bill was signed into law that they would not seek a license to operate a casino at Arlington Park. CDI's chief executive officer, Bill Carstanjen, announced plans to sell the property last year and began accepting bids earlier this year. Among the interested parties are the NFL's Chicago Bears. At least one group is interested in keeping racing alive at Arlington by developing a portion of the property but maintaining the track, grandstand and stabling.

Arlington Park did not apply for 2022 racing dates.

“If they (Illinois lawmakers) would've gotten their head out of the sand and done it five or 10 years earlier, whole different ballgame,” Duchossois said. “Who knows what would have happened then. But at least we would've been given the chance to compete fairly, and they didn't allow that. And now they're saying Churchill is at fault? That just doesn't make any sense.”

Duchossois, like his father a former member of the CDI board of directors, told the Daily Herald discussions about closing Arlington and developing the property came up a number of years ago.

Arlington merged with CDI in 2000, making the Duchossois family the largest single shareholder in the company whose flagship racetrack, Churchill Downs, and its headquarters are located in Louisville, Ky. Churchill Downs also owns Fair Grounds in Louisiana and Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania (both tracks also have casinos) but ceased racing operations at Calder in Florida (replacing it with jai alai to maintain a casino license) and sold Hollywood Park in California to a land development company that eventually closed the track and built a football stadium there.

In February 2021, CDI repurchased one million of the three million shares reportedly held by The Duchossois Group. The private transaction was valued at $193.9 million.

Craig Duchossois was interviewed by the Daily Herald on the afternoon of the track's signature event, formerly known as Arlington Million Day. The  Arlington Million, inaugurated in 1981, had its named changed to the Mr. D. Stakes to honor Richard Duchossois, while the prize money was slashed from $1 million to $600,000. Duchossois, 99 years old, did not attend.

Read more at the Daily Herald

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