LEFT AT THE GATE

The Olympics games were started in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece and there are now certain competitive events that are no longer a part of the games. For instance, a running event called the hoplitodromos or “Hoplite Race,” which was introduced in 520 BC, is not a part of the modern games. In this race, participants would run a single or double daiulos (approximately 400 or 800 yards) equipped in full armor and carrying a shield. The athletes were nude because the Olympics celebrated the achievements of the human body. The “Hoplite Race” is not a part of the modern Olympics because of the evolution of the competition and the athletes now wear clothes. Horse racing in Illinois needs to become “modern” because right now it is as relevant as the ancient games and ready to go to the glue factory.

The horse racing industry in Illinois is waiting for the last rites but refuses to gasp its last breath hoping for a bailout from the legislature in the form of slot machines at the track. But then it’s not horse racing that would bring people to the tracks; it would be the evolution into slot parlors.

At present the state gives 3% of the revenues from riverboat gambling to subsidize the horse-racing industry or about $30 million a year. According to Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association in a story in the Chicago Tribune, when the 10th casino in Illinois opens in July in Des Plaines about 15% of its revenue of about $60 million will be diverted to Illinois race tracks.

In the same Tribune story, Elgin Mayor Ed Schock said that tracks are a business, not a charity and maybe time has passed the tracks by. “If you can't make it, then maybe it's time to reconsider whether Illinois is a good place for horse racing," he said. "They're already getting a subsidy. If people aren't interested in going to horse racing in enough numbers, it would seem horse racing isn't viable anymore."

Since there are thousands of jobs tied into the horse racing industry, it would be sad if it did not exist anymore. It is not evolution for horse racing to add slot machines to the tracks to subsidize revenues, because then it is not true racing anymore. But like the demise of chariot racing, the time has come to surrender. No more spinning out of the turn, only the spinning of slot machine reels.