Why did HARNESS racing in IL really stop? The truth.

[battleground]

No bull shit stories, just the truth.

[racing123]

it died many years ago when the casinos lined illinois governor pat quinn's pockets and he vetoed the slots at racetrack bill which legislators finally approved...his stated reason?  he didnt want to see illinois become a las vegas like state....

he's a scumbag...his pedophile brother who sexually abused kids at fenwick high school is a scumbag...but i'm sure pat's living the good life with all his unethical $$

and the only chance at revival landed in the lap of tim carey at hawthorne...and we've all seen how that's gone....it's a dead game laddies...hoosier opens in late march i believe...

[MikeAnt]

There was still good handle even without casino gambling at maywood and balmoral but it all came to a screeching halt when track owner John Johnson was implicated and caught red handed trying to bribe then governor Rod Blagoyvich and the riverboats jumped all over it. The riverboats were having to give 3% of the slot revenue to the purse account so between the handle and that extra money from the riverboats, Illinois harness racing was fine. But when John Johnston was caught red handed paying $100k in cash to the governors campaign, the riverboat attorneys contacted the Feds and were about to send John Johnston to prison fir 8 years, so he flipped and admitted his guilt and agreed to testify against the governor if they would grant him immunity. That’s the true story of what happened to Illinois harness racing. The greedy bastard Johnston family fucked up everything here.

[LUCPARK]

ihha

tim carey

ill racing board to blame

its over after this yr

racino at hawthorne is a dream

i told that fckin idiot  tim carey to his face he was a useless piece of dog shit

he nodded he knew i was right

[Bernie Madoff]

ihha

tim carey

ill racing board to blame

its over after this yr

racino at hawthorne is a dream

i told that fckin idiot  tim carey to his face he was a useless piece of dog shit

he nodded he knew i was right

 

[MikeAnt]

ihha

tim carey

ill racing board to blame

its over after this yr

racino at hawthorne is a dream

i told that fckin idiot  tim carey to his face he was a useless piece of dog shit

he nodded he knew i was right

Stop your nonsense
So what, you cussed out Carey. Tired of hearing about it
Chicago harness racing was long cooked before Carey got put into this vice
John Johnston getting caught with the bribe ended all of our hopes of getting harness racing back on track
I don’t blame Carey one bit Luc. Not sure of how good your memory was but around 2000 when tracks used to fight for racing dates the IHHA made it a point of backing the Johnston’s and specially showed up at the annual IRB racing board meetings to protest against Hawthorne getting any harness dates. You were behind the Johnston’s as 90% of the horsemen were not wanting to race at Hawthorne at all.
You lucPark cooked your own goose. So now that the Johnston’s screwed everyone over you expect Carey’s to welcome you with open arms. Not going to happen and I for one, love Carey and I hope he gives the harness horsemen in the prairie state just what they deserve for turning their backs on him when he wanted the harness guys there. But you chose to back the crooked Johnson’s and now you made your own bed so lay in it.

[S.Woodall]

Recapture

[MikeAnt]

Recapture

Very true but the Illinois horsemen including yourself swooy wanted the Johnson's and you didn’t want to race your rats at Hawthorne. You crybaby’s sucked up to the Johnson's and now Timmy Carey is telling you to go and cry on their shoulders. I hope he sticks to his guns and tell you harness guys to shove it.

[titans1127]

Harness Racing started to die when Sportsmans decided to turn the track into an auto racing venue.

[MikeAnt]

Harness Racing started to die when Sportsmans decided to turn the track into an auto racing venue.

Again, that was definitely one of many contributing factors to the demise of Chicago harness racing but what many of you don’t understand is this. Chicago harness racing was still operating and doing okay, not great as compared to other places, but still okay. That is until John Johnson got indicted by bribing the soon to be prisoner Illinois governor Rod Blago and the riverboats, who were no friend of horse racing in Illinois, jumped all over it and the FEDs took control. The only reason why John Johnson isn’t in a cell next to the disgraced governor is because he flipped and testified against him for immunity.

Say whatever you want to say about Chicago harness racing but despite everything that happened, it was still surviving, on life support mind you and the purses weren’t beyond poverty level until John Johnson pilled his crookedness. That my friend was the nail in the coffin that Chicago harness racing could not recover from.   

[hasbeen]

Parts of what each poster said are/were true...to varying degrees. The biggest point is gambling in specific forms (horses, lotteries, casinos, e.g.) are their own ecosystems. Casinos are at the top of the gambling food chain. They will devour all other forms of gambling if there aren't safeguards put in place. The 3% was a failed safeguard because the deal wasn't in perpetuity. Harness and tbreds would've died, but at a much slower pace. When the owner of the most profitable casino got in bed with Arlington it spelled doom for the tbreds. Johnny Johnston bribing Blago killed harness.
The big fish casino ate horseracing, diminished the lottery like the lottery diminished the old school numbers racket. We're left with 1/2 assed casinos and 1 track north of Fairmount.
Washington Park DOA
Aurora Downs DOA
Kahokia Downs DOA
Quad City Downs DOA
Sportsmans Park DOA (really hurt!)
Maywood Park DOA
Balmoral Park DOA
Arlington Park DOA
We're left with Fairmount (WGAF?) and a shanty Irish track next to a garbage collection station and 100,000 Mexicans whose only stake in racing is turning a wheelbarrow full of shavings and horseshit.
It's a dead game laddies!

[LAW AND ORDER]

I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU GUYS ARE SAYING ABOUT ILLINOIS HARNESS RACING. BILLY JOHNSTON STARTED THE WHEELS ROLLING AGAINST THE HARNESS GUYS AS WE WERE ALWAYS SECOND FIDDLE TO THE TBREDS. HARNESS RACING IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE TBREDS IN TERMS OF REVENUE FOR THE STATE AND GLORY. HARNESS IS A BUNCH OF CHEATING CARNIVAL HILLBILLIES TRAVELLING FROM CITY TO CITY (TRACK TO TRACK IN THIS CASE!) TO PLY THEIR CHEATING TECHNIQUES. ALONG WITH JONNY BOY JOHNSON, ADD IN A GOOD DOES OF LANGLEY AND DOC AND THAT WOULD SPELL TROUBLE FOR ANY RACING JURISDICTION. IF NOT FOR THE GUYS WHO STARTED HORSEPLOP, WE WOULD STILL HAVE HARNESS RACING ILLINOIS. THE SNITCHES RIGHT HERE ON HORSEPLOP CONTACTED THE FBI ABOUT THE JOHNSONS AND WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND THATS WHEN EVERYTHING WENT CRAZY AND THE FEDS STARTED LOOKING CLOSER AT JOHN JOHNSON. SO WE CAN ALL THANK HORSEPLOP FOR JOHN JOHNSON GETTING CAUGHT AND NO MORE HARNESS RACING HERE.

[Calhoun]

ihha

tim carey

ill racing board to blame

its over after this yr

racino at hawthorne is a dream

i told that fckin idiot  tim carey to his face he was a useless piece of dog shit

he nodded he knew i was right

Come on now... That hot dog don't need extra mustard


 

[LAW AND ORDER]

ihha

tim carey

ill racing board to blame

its over after this yr

racino at hawthorne is a dream

i told that fckin idiot  tim carey to his face he was a useless piece of dog shit

he nodded he knew i was right

HEY LUCPARK I DONT AGREE THAT TIM CAREY IS THE BLAME. JUST LOOK AT THE TYPE OF PRODUCT HE INHERITED FROM THE JOHNSON FAMILY. HE WAS STUCK AND LIKE A FEW GUYS ON THIS THREAD SAID, THE IHHA LOBBIED AGAINST RACING AT HAWTHORNE FOR ALL THOSE YEARS SIDING IN WITH THE JOHNSONS AT MAY/BAL. I THINK CAREY REMEMBERED THAT AND IT WAS THAT NITWIT MACCAFERRY AND JACK KELLY WHO REALLY SCREWED HAWTHORNE SO CAREY RETURNED THE FAVOR. AINT NO WAY CAREY COULD OF SAVED THIS CAR ACCIDENT FROM HAPPENING. HE COULD OF ASKED FOR MORE LIVE HARNESS DATES BUT LIKE I SAID, WHY WOULD HE DO THAT THE WAY THE IHHA TREATED THEM WHEN THE JOHNSONS WERE AROUND. I HOPE ONE DAY TIM CAREY WILL COOL OFF AND WE CAN RACE AT HAWTHORNE AND ALL BE HAPPY LIKE THIS PAST SUMMER  IT WAS A FUN AND EXCITING MEET. 

[balmoralfan]

I agree that snitches did major damage ruining harness racing in Chicago. The crybaby losers like Dennis Britewell, PPool, and Ira crippled the game, just because they couldn't train a ball to roll downhill. They got bitter and jealous of everyone more successful than them, which was basically everybody. Old man Langley shelled out thousands to these turncoat traitors/liars. Rucker told me that Ira may have ratted out over 250 people since Jimmy Carter was president. That's a fucking boatload of snitching.