Balmoral’s final ride

The future of Balmoral Park is still up in the air after an atmosphere of sadness and nostalgia hung over what presumably was the final night of racing Saturday at the historic Crete horse track.

The owners of Balmoral and a sister track, Maywood Park, which closed this fall, are operating while in bankruptcy, and have set a deadline for Monday (1/4/16) to seek offers for Balmoral after rejecting a bid earlier this month by local businessman and horseman John Barnard. No harness racing dates for 2016 at Balmoral were issued by the Illinois Racing Board, and the Johnston family, which owns the park, are expected to file a proposal for exiting Chapter 11 by the end of this week.

Barnard has 30 horses at Balmoral that he’ll relocate next month, and two of his horses — Macho Burbon and Hudson Jesse — were winners there on Saturday. Please click here to read Mike Nolan and Frank Vaisvilas’ story in the Tribune/Daily Southtown.