Fairmount Park, Illinois' last remaining Thoroughbred racetrack, will see an expanded racing calendar next year, alongside a host of new physical improvements and promotional plans to bolster its burgeoning racing product, according to the track's general manager Vince Gabbert during Wednesday's Illinois Racing Board Meeting.Fairmount's racing calendar next year spans April 6 to November 23 comprising a total 73 race days, seven races per day minimum. This year, the track hosted around 57 days of racing.Racing will occur Tuesdays and Wednesdays. After May 1 next year, Fairmount will host a race-day on the first Saturday of every month.The reason, explained Gabbert, is to capitalize on the Saturday buzz generated by the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, as well as their own St. Louis Derby (ran on Saturday August 29 this year).“We put about $65,000 behind the [St. Louis] Derby day this year and it paid off,” said Gabbert, saying the race-day generated on-track attendance of around 6,000 and about $185,000 in on-track handle.“That was a big number for us on-track,” said Gabbert. The day prior, he said, the track did roughly $45,000 on-track handle.Gabbert also floated the idea of hosting cards specifically for state-breds on the Saturday.“One of the things we feel like we've learned from the St. Louis Derby and doing this Saturday schedule,” he said, “is doing a bit of a better card on those days. We're talking to the Ag' Department about doing an Illinois day only, and carding a full Illinois-bred on one of the Saturdays, and pushing that as well.”The track and casino marketing budget for next year, said Gabbert, will total about $2.8 million in marketing, with about $1.8 million to $2.1 million on the racing product. Though “everything we do is combined,” he explained.“One of the challenges for a longer meet is that every day kind of becomes the same,” said Gabbert. “I think with the new calendar and those bigger days on the Saturdays, it'll give us a chance to market and push those bigger days. We're fortunate—we've got a great fanbase.”When asked about the state of the track's horse inventory, Gabbert explained that while Fairmount struggled with field size earlier in the year (when there was racing overlap with the now shuttered Hawthorne), the track currently has a full backstretch of 862 stalls.“Our field size over the past eight weeks has been solid,” said Gabbert. “It hasn't been unusual for us to have 90 entries or 92 entries across eight-races.”The plan, said Gabbert, is for the backstretch to remain open through the winter to avoid horse population loss. “So, when we start back in April, everybody's ready to go,” he said.Throughout the winter, Fairmount Park will be home to several some physical improvements, alongside plans to build a permanent casino (replacing the current temporary one).There'll be a new paddock, which is expected to be done by the new racing season next year, along with a new racing office, new jockey quarters, as well as “significant” dormitory improvements, said Gabbert.“We're actively working with legislature to keep the backside tax credit moving forward,” said Gabbert, explaining those monies are needed to help “expedite our spend.”In the 2027 state budget, the racing board transferred $2.5 million from the state horse racing fund into the purse equity fund.One of the commissioner's asked Gabbert how Fairmount's been able to use the $625,000 earmarked for the track.In response, Gabbert explained that while the track has been contractually obligated to put up a daily base purses of around $109k, the track has been able to front daily purses totalling around $116k and $117k.“So, we've actually pushed our base purse up above the contractual amount through the purse equity,” he added. “We'll be on base to probably do another $600k to $700k increase next year, over this current year.”Fairmount is in the process of opening three new Off-Track Betting (OTB) locations. The track has currently three OTB's (one of then an un-manned location in Mount Vernon).“The goal would be to have them open by the time we open racing in 2027,” said Gabbert.The commission, however, also raised the question of a needed legislative change to allow Fairmount to send its signal to the OTBs in Northen Illinois.“We're [currently] limited to 160-miles in how far we can take our signal from Fairmount,” said Gabbert.“The biggest threat that I see both from a state tax revenue and from our revenue is if the Northern OTBs go dark, and there's a loss of signal and an inability to have wagering in those facilities,” said Gabbert.“We get a significant amount of handle [from the Northen Illinois OTBs]. On average, about 21% or 22% of the total handle here comes through the OTBs. The vast majority of that, about 97% of that 22%, is from up north,” said Gabbert.If the Northen OTBs go dark, it'll mean a “significant” amount of revenue lost, explained Gabbert. “It's $2.5 to $3 million in [lost] tax revenue. And it's a big number from a handle perspective for us,” he said. The post Illinois Racing Commission Expands Fairmount Park’s 2027 Racing Calendar appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.