Public Class SessionRaceDefinition
    Public races() As String

    Private Sub raceload()
        Dim filein As New StreamReader(My.Settings.RacesPath)
        Dim strData As String = ""
        Dim lngCount As Long = 1
        Dim counter As Integer = 0

        While (Not (filein.EndOfStream))
            strData = filein.ReadLine()
            lngCount = lngCount + 1
        End While
        filein.Close()

        Dim filein2 As New StreamReader(My.Settings.RacesPath)
        ReDim races(lngCount)
        MsgBox("Done 1!")

        While (Not (filein2.EndOfStream))
            strData = filein2.ReadLine()
            races(counter) = strData
            counter = counter + 1
        End While
        MsgBox("Done 2!")

'Everything is okay until this section
        
        LBRaces.Items.Clear()
        For x As Integer = LBound(races) To UBound(races)
            LBRaces.Items.Add(races(x))
        Next
        MsgBox("Done 3!")
    End Sub

Public Class SessionRaceDefinition
    Public races() As String

    Private Sub raceload()
        Dim filein As New StreamReader(My.Settings.RacesPath)
        Dim strData As String = ""
        'Dim lngCount As Long = 1
        'Dim counter As Integer = 0
        Dim lngCount As Long = 1
        Dim counter As Long = 0
        Dim x as Long 
        While (Not (filein.EndOfStream))
            strData = filein.ReadLine()
            lngCount = lngCount + 1
        End While
        filein.Close()

        Dim filein2 As New StreamReader(My.Settings.RacesPath)
        ReDim races(lngCount)
        MsgBox("Done 1!")

        While (Not (filein2.EndOfStream))
            strData = filein2.ReadLine()
            races(counter) = strData
            counter = counter + 1
        End While
        MsgBox("Done 2!")

'Everything is okay until this section
        
        LBRaces.Items.Clear()
        For x = 0 to counter -1
        'For x As Integer = LBound(races) To UBound(races)
            LBRaces.Items.Add(races(x))
        Next
        MsgBox("Done 3!")
    End Sub

Dim sr as StreamReader
Dim file as string
Dim lines() as string

Try
    sr = New StreamReader(My.Settings.RacesPath)

    ' Read the whole lot
    file = sr.ReadtoEnd
Catch ex as exception
    messagebox.show(ex.message, "Error reading file")

    ' What happens after the error is up to you. You might exit initialising, returning False
    ' so the caller knows it's gone wrong
    Return False
Finally
    ' Closes the file regardless of error or not
    if sr isnot nothing then
        sr.close
    end if
End Catch

' Put the file contents into an array as long as it read the file OK.
lines = split(file, vbcrlf)
' Clear the memory taken up by the file if no longer needed
file = ""

' You now have your races array in lines

' You can For Each over arrays in .Net

Dim race as string
LBRaces.Items.Clear()
For Each race in lines
    LBRaces.Items.Add(race)
Next