Balmoral Park Racetrack

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Balmoral Park Racing Schedule: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday Racing Dates 2008: January 1 - December 31 Post Times: 7:40 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday 6:30 p.m. on Sundays Balmoral Park Location: Crete, Illinois Balmoral Park Official Website: www.balmoralpark.com

Balmoral Park Facts:

Born out of a perceived need for a new horse racing track in the Chicago, Illinois area, Balmoral Park Racetrack opened its gates in August of 1926, the investment of members of the famed Kentucky Jockey Club.

With an eye toward the future and a focus on customer satisfaction, Balmoral Park Racetrack was quick to adapt the latest in horse betting racing innovations.

A year after opening its gates, Balmoral Park Racetrack accepted legalized pari-mutuel horse race wagering immediately after it was legalized. In 1936, it installed the first photo finish camera used at an Illinois horse racing track and became the first horserace track in the country to open an off-track betting parlor in 1987.

Balmoral Park Racetrack earned legitimacy as a horserace track in 1940 when Whirlaway won his first race at Balmoral Park Racetrack on his way to win the Triple Crown. The momentum that Balmoral Park Racetrack had earned as a horse racing venue was brought to a halt, when entrance into World War II closed the track for five years.

Racing action at Balmoral Park Racetrack was further delayed when a fire erupted in the grandstands during renovations. It wasn’t until 1954, many years after the war that forced its shutdown, that Balmoral Park Racetrack opened the starting gates once more.

Having transitioned from thoroughbred racing to harness racing betting, Balmoral Park Raceway continues to thrive; offering harness race fans hundreds of race events every year, including the fan favored “Super Night”, “American National”, and “Great Midwest Fair”. Balmoral Park offers dynamic horse racing throughout the year. Their schedule runs almost constant from January to the first week in May. After a short layoff, the horse racing action picks up again in June and continues until the end of the year.

Balmoral Park offers exciting harness horse racing. Did you know that in 2002, Anthony Morgan set the track record for wins? Anthony Morgan won an astounding 339 times. That’s winning consistency. Anthony Morgan, in 2002, set the Balmoral Park record for starts at 1,866. If you bet on the horse Anthony Morgan was driving in 2002, you had just over an 18% chance of winning the race. That’s absolutely amazing. He did not stop there though. In 2003, Anthony Morgan posted an even better win percentage. His horse won 19.70% of the time and his horse finished in the money a whopping 45% of the time. It is safe to say that if you bet on a horse Anthony Morgan was driving, you had a very good chance at taking home some money.

In 2001, Dale Hiteman won the largest purse at Balmoral Park - a whopping $2,689,555. This single win equated to about half of his earnings at the Balmoral Park that year. It was the highest earnings year for this forty-year-old Ohio native. The Balmoral Park racetrack has been home to many great harness racing moments.

Every sport has their own super game of sorts, so why not Balmoral harness racing? Illinois harness racing has a “Super Night”, which started in 1989. Super Night is the biggest night in Illinois harness racing. During Super Night, the best of the best slug it out for $1,000,000 in purse money. It’s an amazing night for the fans and those allowed to participate. To sweeten the pot, the Illinois Department of Agriculture offers a $1,000,000 bonus, which is split among lucky participants. Super Night consists of eight highly contested championship races.

In 1998, Balmoral Park became home for the Super Night. Every Super Night stakes record has been set at the Crete oval at Balmoral Park. Roughly 8,000 harness racing fans come out for Super Night and enjoy the races. If you decide to wager on Super Night, look for driver Dave Magee. He has a grand total of 20 winners, which is the most of any driver. Joe Anderson is the runner up with 12 winners. So, who’s the king of Super Night? Currently it is Ideal Society, who has won 17 races.

Wagering on the action at Balmoral Park Racetrack is convenient with our online horse betting featured racebook. Advantage Wagering's partner Bodog places horse racing fans right in the thick of the action. As you might expect, they offer low $1.00 minimum bets and full track odds - making horse wagering on Balmoral harness racing available to all levels of Internet bettors.