Monmouth Likely to Reduce Meet to 50 Days

Hoping a shorter racing season will help it maintain its purse structure, Monmouth Park officials are seeking to conduct a meet that will include only 50 days of racing this year. The New Jersey Thoroughbred schedule could also include six days of turf racing in the fall at the Meadowlands.

Dennis Drazin, who heads the management team at Monmouth, said legislation has been introduced to amend regulations that require Monmouth and the Meadowlands to race for a combined minimum of 71 days. All expectations are that the legislation will pass. If that proves to be the case, Drazin said Monmouth will go ahead with the plans to run for 50 days, plus the six at the Meadowlands.

Last year, Monmouth had a 56-day meet with 15 additional days of racing scheduled at the Meadowlands. One Meadowlands card was washed out. The 2017 plans mark another move to downsize New Jersey racing, but Drazin argues that is the only way for Monmouth's purses to remain in the same ballpark as those in competing states. A renewed need to make cuts arose last year after Monmouth's handle was down 25%.

“If our meet does go down to 50 days, that probably would be the ideal number for us to keep our purses as strong as possible,” Drazin said. “We do expect to have a strong meet and we don't anticipate any more cuts. The purse levels will be similar to what they were last year, and we will try to card 12 races every racing day.

“It is very difficult to compete with surrounding states that have alternative sources for revenue from gaming when we don't have any. The good news is that Monmouth Park has been successfully running the meet since [the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association] took over from the state. We have no fears that we are going to close. We intend to be operating Monmouth Park for all time to come. I don't envision there being any problems with the survival of Monmouth Park.”

Despite the reduced schedule, Drazin said he and his staff have gotten a strong response from horsemen and he doesn't expect a problem with defections. Todd Pletcher, the most high-profile trainer who stables at Monmouth, confirmed to the TDN that he will be back for the 2017 meet.

In addition to reducing the number of racing days, Monmouth has also announced cuts to its stakes schedule. Thirty-three stakes are scheduled for 2017, down from 41 last year. The amount paid out in the 2017 stakes program will be $3.725 million, down from $4.65 million in 2016. Drazin said a choice had to be made between trimming the stakes program or eliminating a program whereby the track pays for workmen's compensation for its trainers. He admitted the workmen's compensation program is a major incentive for people to race at Monmouth.

“There was a huge question when it came to our finances and whether we continue to offer something I don't think any other track offers horsemen, which is worker's compensation,” he said. “Monmouth Park has traditionally offered trainers an industry compensation fund, not only for jockeys and exercise riders, but for all their help. With premiums continuing to go up, that number for this year is in excess of $1.6 million. That money had to come from some place and the only place it could have come from was the purse account. We took a hard look at our stakes schedule. We all know it is very difficult to get large fields in stakes. So many tracks in the Mid-Atlantic are competing for the same stakes horses and the public doesn't want to see five and six-horse fields.”

Drazin and his team continue to search for answers to Monmouth's problems, but one possible solution he said is not on the table is a take-over by The Stronach Group. The Stronach Group, which operates Laurel and Pimlico, has let it be known that it is interested in taking over the racing programs at other tracks in the area.

“We have absolutely no intention to let The Stronach Group take over Monmouth Park,” he said. “We will continue running Monmouth Park. We also keep hearing rumors about The Stronach Group and keep hearing they will take over the racing operations at Parx. Assuming for argument's sake that Stronach is successful in taking over racing at Parx, we have had some preliminary discussions regarding what that would mean for everyone. We would anticipate some cooperation with them; we would anticipate everyone trying to work together with condition books that worked for the entire region and that they may eliminate some days against us in the summer and we would eliminate some days in the fall so both tracks have more horses available to them. We would welcome them to the region and we would cooperate with them as much as possible, but no there is no vision whatsoever of Stronach taking over Monmouth Park.”