According to a report, there were no takers when the Illinois Department of Agriculture asked companies to bid on a contract to operate harness races in Springfield and DuQuoin during state fairs this year. Also, there has been
talk of having the races run at the Illinois State Fair as non-wagering events.
An article by The Murphysboro American explains that Jack Kelly, a director at both Balmoral Park and Maywood Park, said that some horse owners still haven't been paid purse winning's from the 2009 fair races. Kelly did say that some of the purse cheques were received by some owners late last week.
"One of our concerns was that the horsemen haven't been paid; who's going to enter?" Kelly was quoted as saying. "We're going to bring (equipment) down there and have two races a day. We didn't want to be locked into something that all of a sudden was not going to happen because it was out of our control."
(With files from The Murphysboro American)