Meadowlands

Monmouth Park has named Matt Dinerman the new track announcer for the 2024 racing season, which gets underway on Saturday, May 11. The 2024 Monmouth racing season runs through Sept. 15, after which Dinerman will take the mic at the Meadowlands for the all-turf, 10-day season in East Rutherford. "I'm delighted to be joining the team at Monmouth," said Dinerman, a 31-year-old native of California. "It's an honor to be selected as their next voice.  Monmouth is a beautiful racetrack with a large, enthusiastic fan base that supports great racing. ...

Douglas Thomas, a graded-stakes winning jockey who raced primarily at Monmouth Park in the 1970's and 80's, died Mar. 9 at the age of 78, according to an obituary written by his son Robert Thomas and sent by the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association of New Jersey. An earner of over $21 million over the course of his career, the Canadian native retired in 1997 having made over 18,000 starts with a win total in excess of 2,000 races. Many of his winner's circle photos took place at tracks across New Jersey...

by Frank Drucker, on behalf of the Lederman family There can't possibly be another track announcer as unique as Larry Lederman. Hell, there can't possibly be another human as unique as Larry Lederman. Lawrence Brian Lederman died Mar. 5, at his home in East Windsor, New Jersey, weeks after his 67th birthday. That Larry survived more than a dozen years with an inoperable brain tumor (winning that game of under/over) was a testament to his acerbic wit, unyielding faith, biting sense of humor and a shrewdness/stubbornness to realize the multitudes...

A bill that would have extended annual purse subsidy payments made to New Jersey's Thoroughbred and Standardbred tracks was vetoed Wednesday by Gov. Phil Murphy. The bill called for the $20 million subsidy, which is split between the two breeds, to continue through 2029. The money has already been approved for 2024. The extension was to run from 2025 through 2029. Murphy vetoed 12 bills in all, using what is called a pocket veto. That type of veto applies only to bills sent to the governor's desk in the final...

On Nov. 3, Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural announced that the track was banning 33 trainers and owners, including Howard Taylor, after claiming that evidence and exhibits track officials were able to retain from the doping trials that had taken place over the previous months revealed a list of individuals who had purchased banned substances. An email sent to TDN listed Taylor as being among those who had allegedly purchased EPO. On Tuesday, Taylor fired back. According to an email from Tilden Katz of Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies, Taylor has sued...

Effective Dec. 1, the Meadowlands will ban 33 harness horsemen after evidence and exhibits track officials acquired from the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed the names of trainers and owners who had purchased banned substances from individuals who were charged with manufacturing and selling performance-enhancing drugs. The delay in imposing the ban was put in place in order to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest because many of the trainers are pointing horses to races run at the Meadowlands during November in which they could meet horses owned by Meadowlands...

Some two years ago, Randall Lane, the chief content officer for Forbes, and Bob Daugherty, an investor and educator, met for dinner and the conversation turned to horse racing. Both are fans of racing and they started to talk about why the sport isn't nearly as popular as the four major sports. The answer, they concluded, is that in baseball, basketball, football and hockey, the sports center around teams, leagues and standings. People fall in love with their teams, they root for them, they pay to see them play, they...

Madeline Rowland's journey to becoming a jockey reached the next level last Sunday when she scored her first win on the NYRA circuit over the Aqueduct main track. Still just a teenager and already over the million-dollar mark in earnings, Rowland knew early on that her future was in horses. "I always grew up around horses," she said. "My dad trained steeplechase horses before he passed and my mom galloped for a little bit and helped my dad train. When I was 12 or 13, I started pony racing and...

Due to a forecast calling for heavy rain, live racing has been cancelled for Saturday, Oct. 1, for the all-turf Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet, the track announced on Friday. The six races scheduled for Saturday will be extras when entries are taken Tuesday, Oct. 4, for the Friday, Oct. 7, card. The five remaining all-turf cards following tonight's program will take place Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 22 with the exception of Saturday, Oct. 15, when Far Hills will feature its 101st steeplechase meet.

New Jersey native Bill Denver is today's subject in TDN's rotating series profiling racetrack photographers. We ask about memorable horses, races, and people they've viewed through the lens, and also talk about how the craft of equine imagery has evolved. Denver, 60, is the founder of Equi-Photo, which currently shoots the races and provides winner's circle photographs at Monmouth Park, the Meadowlands Thoroughbred meet, Parx, and Penn National. Separate from his work at East Coast tracks, Denver has previously freelanced for college athletic departments and numerous newspapers, including the New...

The Meadowlands released a statement late Thursday saying it will not scratch horses owned by Adrienne Hall, a harness owner and trainer who testified in federal court last week against Seth Fishman while admitting she used his performance-enhancing drugs on her horses. Fishman was found guilty Wednesday of two counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws and the manufacture of PEDs administered to racehorses, and faces up to 20 years in prison. The statement stands in contrast to the policy of the United States Trotting Association, which said...

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by eight harness owners who were banned at the tracks owned by Jeff Gural due to their ties with indicted trainer Rene Allard. Gural owns the Meadowlands in New Jersey and Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs in New York. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs may file a subsequent suit on the same grounds. Despite the allegations against Allard, he had been cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice to train horses at a South Florida training center,...