Neighborhood News: Stickney’s Hawthorne Race Course a Chicago family-owned treasure for 134 years
As Americans throughout the country raise mint juleps in honor of the Kentucky Derby at fabled Churchill Downs this weekend, Chicagoans have their own historic horse track open this weekend–Hawthorne Race Course, 3501 S. Laramie Avenue, the oldest continually family run race track in the country.
History of Horse Racing in Chicago
Hawthorne Race Course is literally, the last course standing in an area that was peppered with race tracks since the early 1830’s.
According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago History, in 1840, a jockey club was formed. The club built a harness racing course near Indiana and 26th four years later. In 1854 the Garden City track was opened, followed one year later by John Wentworth’s Brighton Park. In 1864, Dexter Park was established at 42nd Street and Halsted, and in 1878 the West Side Driving Track was opened adjacent to Garfield Park for both harness and thoroughbred racing.
By the 1930s, Chicago’s six horse racing tracks numbered more than any other metropolitan area.
Hawthorne Race Course History
Racing in turn-of-the-century metropolitan Chicago was very tenuous. In 1891, after Edward Corrigan’s lease expired at West Side Track, he relocated to his new Hawthorne Race Track in Stickney to avoid “political harassment.”
As the owner of 1890 Kentucky Derby winner Riley, according to Twinspires Horse Racing. Corrigan knew what kind of racetrack would make a winner. He finished construction of a brand new race course and grandstand, kicking off opening day with a five-race card that included the Chicago Derby.
Corrigan earned the nickname “The Master of Hawthorne.” The Daily Racing Form, according to Wikipedia sources, called him “the man who at one time controlled more racing property and owned a greater stable of horses than any other turfman of his time.”
However, in 1905, horse racing was banned in Chicago, leading to the closure of Hawthorne. The field was used briefly by pioneer aviators Victor and Allan Haines Loughead in 1910 to fly a powered Montgomery glider and a Curtiss pusher.
The current owners, the Carey Family, became involved when Thomas Carey purchased the race course in 1909. Carey struggled to keep the course open with increased pressure from local police and sheriffs, but he managed to hold meets sporadically.
Wikipedia sources report that in 1922, the track reopened legally for a 13-day race. In 1923, the meet expanded to 25 days. The Chicago Business Men’s Racing Association took over racing operations in 1924 and ran a 52-day meet in the fall. This same year a new clubhouse was constructed at Hawthorne, and a form of parimutuel betting was introduced.
In 1927, the track began to gain national promenance with the introduction of the Grade III Hawthore Gold Cup Handicap, previously won by Breeders’ Cup Classic winners Awesome Again and Black Tie Affair, as well as Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Buck’s Boy.
The track introduced daily double wagering to Chicago and used a new infrared timer in the early 1930s, taking over the racing dates of Lincoln Fields Race Track as well as racing earlier in the spring. The track also introduced races restricted to Illinois-bred horses.
Robert F. Carey took over as managing director of Hawthorne in 1947 and held that post until his death in 1980. His son, Thomas F. Carey, assumed the role of President and General Manager until 2005, when his nephew, Tim Carey, was named President and General Manager.
A multi-million dollar renovation was completed in 1998. The new look for Hawthorne included the addition of four new party rooms, plush outdoor box seats with individual television monitors, a full-service food court, a new tele-timer system, new floors and ceilings, and a new lighting system to accommodate evening harness racing.
Part of the grandstand was demolished to make way for a Racino (racing casino), an ongoing project.
Hawthorne Race Course Today
Hawthorne Race Course has earned the distinction as the only race course in the nation to host both Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing. They also operate Illinois’ largest network of off-track betting bars, which features two PointsBet Sportsbooks, in addition to a sportsbook at the track.
Over the years, Hawthorne has also expanded its breadth of events by adding turf racing, harness racing, and occasionally quarter-horse races.
This was possible because the track has a one-mile (1.609 km) dirt oval and a seven-furlong (1.408 km) turf course. The main track’s home stretch is 1,320 feet, the third longest of any dirt track in the United States.
However, this leads to the turns being unusually tight: On the dirt oval, the turns are just 1,136 feet long — and on the turf course, 806 feet — the tightest turns of any turf course in the United States.
Chris Block, president of the ITHA and Hawthorne’s top-earning trainer last year, told Horse Racing Nation last month that “The surface is one of the best in the country to train on and race on.”
Hawthorne also runs the ungraded Bill Hartack Memorial Handicap, which was inaugurated in 2008 and was originally called the National Jockey Club Handicap, as well as the Hawthorne Derby.
Hawthorne Race Track is open Saturday and Sunday, 11am – 6pm, Monday-Wednesday, 11am–4pm, and Thursday and Friday, 11am – 5pm. For more information, click here.
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
