The Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) on Wednesday launched a renewed effort to get paid more than $1.3 million in unpaid purse money from Hawthorne Race Course.The Stickney, Illinois track, owned by Chicago's Carey family for the last 117 years, is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure between $100 and $500 million in debt, with the racecourse on a court-ordered schedule to be sold for $90 million to a non-racing entity by the end of August.The ITHA's July 29 motion in United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division), seeks a court order allowing the unpaid statutory purse obligations to be classified as “administrative expenses” to be paid “immediately in compliance with Illinois law governing distribution of purse money.”The amount the ITHA is seeking to recover is stated in the court filing as $711,554 for unpaid purses from three race dates in July, plus $603,069 for purses that had been previously earned but not withdrawn from the horsemen's bookkeeper account maintained by Hawthorne.The ITHA's legal action appeared to have been sparked by a filing earlier in the day by Hawthorne, which is required to report monthly expenses to the bankruptcy court.That report showed a glaringly negative balance in the horsemen's bookkeeper account while the operating account had a surplus, with money paid out to other entities during the previous month.“On July 29, Hawthorne filed its Monthly Operating Report (MOR) for the month ending June 30,” the ITHA's filing stated. “The June 2026 MOR shows that [the] Bookkeeper Account had an ending balance of negative $125,306.“Meanwhile, Hawthorne's operating account had an ending balance of $944,673, the professional fee carve-out had an ending balance of $2,167,399, and insiders were paid $89,995 for the month of June 2026, plus an additional $1,256 was paid to BMWFinancial Services,” the filing stated.“Hawthorne has not paid any money to the horsemen for the earned July Purses for the July Races, despite the expiration of the regulatory deadlines [that mandate purse payments within 72 hours] and ITHA's request,” the filing stated.“Hawthorne undoubtedly received revenue for the July Races–races that could not have happened without the owners, trainers, grooms, and all horsemen responsible for getting the horses to [the] track,” the filing stated.“Yet, despite the court-approved Budget, Hawthorne chose not to fund the Bookkeeper Account.“Moreover, several horsemen left funds in the Bookkeeper Account from Pre-July Purses,” the filing stated. “It is unclear what happened to those funds or, worse, whether the Debtors converted the horsemen's funds that were in the Bookkeeper Account to pay other administrative expenses or insiders.”Hawthorne executives could not be reached for comment prior to deadline for this story.The post Horsemen Seek New Way to Collect after Hawthorne Reports Negative Purse Account Balance appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.