By T. D. Thornton
The planned return of autumn Thoroughbred racing on both dirt and turf at the Meadowlands will have to wait for another year.
The New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NJTHA) and track management at the Meadowlands have come to a mutual decision not to convert the facility's main dirt track from a Standardbred to a Thoroughbred setup for 19 already-allotted Friday and Saturday dates between Oct. 2 and Dec. 5.
Under an agreement reached last year, dual-surface Thoroughbred racing was to be conducted at the Meadowlands for the first time since 2009. After hosting only Standardbred races in 2010 and 2011, the Meadowlands resumed Thoroughbred races in 2012, but in a turf-only fashion for mini-meets limited to only a few dates.
The New Jersey Racing Commission (NJRC) voted 4-0 to approve the 2020 change at its teleconference meeting on Wednesday.
The reasoning given, as read into the record by NJRC executive director Judith Nason, is that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a loss of racing dates for both breeds in New Jersey and eroded the NJTHA purse account that funds the Meadowlands Thoroughbred meet.
Technically, the NJTHA postponed its contractual right to convert the dirt surface, Nason said. She added that both parties explored the idea of alternating races of both breeds on Fridays and Saturdays this autumn (turf only for Thoroughbreds). They also discussed having one breed race days while the other raced nights over that time period, but neither party wanted the less-lucrative afternoon time slot.
Instead, the harness season will continue at the Meadowlands during the vacated Thoroughbred dates, giving the Standardbred horsemen the opportunity to make up their lost programs.
Dennis Drazin, the chairman and chief executive of Darby Development LLC, which operates Monmouth Park, left open the possibility that the NJTHA could tack on some of the scrapped Meadowlands dates to the end of the current Monmouth Park meet, which runs through Sep. 27. The season was supposed to start May 2, but Monmouth did not open until July 3.
“I think it's premature to have that discussion right now. Certainly we have considered that factor,” Drazin said. “Depending upon what happens, if we had extra purse money, we may consider adding a couple of days during October. But at the present time we do not have such intention.”
Drazin explained that the NJTHA's revenue projections for the virus-delayed Monmouth meet were originally based upon the fact that no fans would be permitted at the track because of health concerns.
But now, Drazin explained, “We have a limited amount of fans, and it looks like our numbers, projection-wise, may be better than we originally anticipated.”
Drazin continued: “We're still weak on our in-house numbers, which is where we get the 20% [takeout] blend instead of the export, which is more like 5%. But the exports have held up, and we're hoping that by the time we get to the end of the meet, there might be some additional money so that…there's a possibility [of adding dates]. But I wouldn't want to tell anybody that we are definitely going to do it and disappoint them later on.”
Nason said the NJRC still considers the NJTHA's racing permit for the Meadowlands to be “active,” which leaves open the possibility of a future Thoroughbred meet at the Meadowlands.
Drazin also asked the commission to consider Monmouth's days lost during the pandemic to be because of an “act of God” so that the missed May and June dates count toward the state-required minimum of 50 dates. But Nason said that written request was not received in time to be placed on the July 15 agenda. It will be taken up in September after the NJRC's attorneys review it.
For several years, Drazin has been pushing for a longer meet at the Meadowlands that includes dirt racing. The sticking point has always been the estimated $1-million cost of converting the track. But last November Drazin told TDN that he and Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural reached an agreement that covers the costs.
“In my estimation, and people can disagree, I don't think there is a really strong night signal out there at that time of year on regular basis that bettors can follow,” Drazin told TDN last November. “The night signal at the Meadowlands, if you do it right and build on it, it's not going to be amazing year one. But over a five- to 10-year period it can grow to a point where it's a meaningful portion of our revenue scheme here in New Jersey.”
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