Today is opening day at Arlington Park – Chicagoland’s premiere horse racing venue. Hawthorne Racecourse (Chicago’s other horse racing venue) completed their spring session this past Sunday to make way for the summer session at Arlington Park.
However, instead of driving to Arlington Heights, my plan is to attend the Chicago Cubs game. First pitch is at 1:20 pm.
For the third day in a row, the Kane County Cougars are playing at the same time as the Cubs. But if you are out in the western …

For the first time I attended the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Racecourse. I chose this event rather than attend the Chicago Bulls game which tipped off Saturday afternoon at 1 pm. The reasons I chose to attend the Illinois Derby were:
1) I had never attended the Illinois Derby which is a prep race for the Kentucky Derby. 2) I had never attended an event at Hawthorne Racecourse.
Obtaining Tickets and ParkingParking at Hawthorne is free unless you want to park close to the entrance. Entrance to Hawthorne Racecourse …

In 1993, at the start of my senior year of high school, I attended 4 race days at Bay Meadows. This summer, I have attended 5 race days at Arlington Park. With a slow work day and an evening flight to catch at Chicago’s Midway Airport, a couple of work friends and I headed to Arlington Park for a Friday afternoon of horse racing.
We paid the $7 admission and decided to watch the races from the picnic tables in the Miller Lite Party in the Park – Libido Funk Circus …

Yesterday, I forgot to bring my lunch to work. So instead of eating in the building’s cafeteria I decided to eat lunch at Arlington Park and watch some horse racing. As I did the last few times, I brought my laptop so I could work using Arlington Park’s wireless network.
Before the day started, the announcer mentioned there maybe some money to be won because no horse in the field had proven themselves. She was right. In the first race, I bet the two favorites in an …

With both the White Sox and Cubs out of town and the WNBA away on Olympic break, finding a good sporting event in Chicago was no easy task today. Three months ago, I realized I never even considered attending a horse race during a sports drought. Over the last few weeks, Arlington Park has been on my radar as a quick sporting option since I am working within a 15-20 minute drive from the track. Today was one of those days I was able to make it …

Over two months ago, I wondered why I never thought of watching live horse racing. Today, I finally decided to drive to Arlington Park to watch the races during my lunch (two) hour(s).
The drive to the track was 15 minutes from the office. Since only 8 races were on the program today, I could watch 4-5 races and still be back at the office in a reasonable amount of time (plus with my laptop and Arlington Park’s wireless network I could work during the 30 minute downtime between each race).
Admission …

Recently, I started thinking – why do I never consider watching Horse Racing? Although I check for events at each arena and stadium within the Chicagoland area it never occurs to me to check the racing schedules at Chicago’s two main horse tracks: Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, IL and Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero, IL. You could also go to Balmoral Park in Crete, IL to see live harness racing.
This morning as I was driving to work, I noticed a sign that read “Arlington Park This Exit” at my …

The Belmont Breeze is the official drink of the Belmont Stakes. However, planning the trip there is not so easy. As you may know, I am an avid Southwest Airlines customer for multiple reasons. The main one being – they do not charge change fees. No change fees is key for any sports fan trying to rank and file hundreds of possible sporting events to attend.
However, Southwest does not fly to three key sports cities – Minneapolis, Atlanta and New York City. Today I was trying to plan a trip …