With this weekend’s racing action serving as a fitting precursor of things to come, Monmouth Park opened its doors to launch what racing enthusiasts are calling a history-making season for the Oceanport facility.
With everything old made new again, Monmouth Park’s 62nd summer of thoroughbred racing is being billed as an exciting prelude to the Breeders’ Cup Thoroughbred Championships of 2007.
The 75-day meet, which opened Saturday and runs through Sept. 2, sets the stage for Breeders Cup Week, Oct. 24-27, and preparations have been completed, or will be finished by midsummer, that have the entire Shore area and beyond anticipating this summer’s meet.
“We’re really excited about this meeting,” said Dennis Dowd, senior executive vice president of racing for the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority. “Since the meet closed last year, we’ve been working continuously on projects throughout the track.
“The goal, of course, is to have everything perfect by Breeders’ Cup week.”
Chief among the projects was the installation of a new main track, which went into service the last week of April.
“The horsemen are going to love the new surface,” Dowd said. “Early reviews have been extremely favorable.”
Fans will appreciate such new amenities as a new sound and video system throughout the track, Dowd said.
“This promises to be one of the most exciting seasons in Monmouth’s long history,” Dowd said. “This racetrack has been the scene of many important milestones in Thoroughbred racing history, and the 2007 season will be added to that list.”
Bob Kulina, vice president and general manager of Monmouth Park, echoed Dowd’s sentiments.
“This is the first time we’ve had this many major capital improvement projects going on at once,” Kulina said. “We’re actually replacing a lot of the original equipment that was installed when the track was built in 1946. We’ve replaced electrical and telephone wiring; we’ve updated the bathrooms and the plumbing, and the sound and video systems. Several elevators and escalators, some original equipment from 60 years ago, are being replaced. In the stable area, all the barns have been refurbished, and roads repaved. We’re making really basic improvements.
PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff (Top) Michael Firios signals the start of Sunday’s racing at Monmouth Park in Oceanport. Above right, a crowd gathers around the paddock as the horses make their way to the track for a race. At left, the horses head to the finish during one of Sunday’s races. “We expect all of the projects to be completed by midsummer,” Kulina said. “The capital improvements will allow us to go forward from here with a racetrack that is as up-to-date as we can make it.”
Kulina said the quality of sport at Monmouth should be at a high level all year, given the fact that the new turf course has had a year to settle in, and Monmouth will be operating in the fourth year of a purse supplement.
CHRIS KELLY staff A new dirt course is one of the many improvements made at Monmouth Park this season. “I’m excited about the racing,” he said. “First of all, daily purses will be $330,000, a record high for Monmouth Park, and that gets a lot of attention from horsemen.
“And one of the keys to quality racing this year is the fact that we’ll be using the new turf course from the start of the meet. Last year, we didn’t get to run on it until July, but this year, if the weather cooperates, we’ll start racing it on Memorial Day weekend (May 26).
“We also have a new main track, which has been getting a positive response from the horsemen,” Kulina added.
Facility improvements
add to excitement
So, what’s new at Monmouth Park this year? Just about everything.
With the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Thoroughbred Championships as impetus, Monmouth Park is getting a complete facelift for its 62nd season. There’s not one part of the Oceanport facility that is going untouched.
CHRIS KELLY staff A new dirt course is one of the many improvements made at Monmouth Park this season. “We’re dragging this grand old racetrack into the 21st Century,” said Horace (Smitty) Smith, assistant vice president of operations, who is celebrating his 29th year of working at Monmouth by adding to his crop of gray hair.
“The Breeders’ Cup has given us a wonderful opportunity to restore Monmouth to its original glory,” Smith said. “We have a $30 million budget for capital improvements, and we’re using the money to complete projects throughout the facility. From the stable area to the racetrack, from the grandstand to the picnic area, the place has been buzzing.”
Because of the scope of the work, Alan Nau has been hired to serve as project manager, providing hands-on supervision of all the trades involved. Nau owns the Advantage Contracting & Environmental Services Co., which has been involved with many New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority projects over the years at the Meadowlands racetrack, Giants Stadium, and the Continental Airlines Arena.
The work starts with the stable area, summer home of more than 1,500 horses and hundreds of backstretch workers.
The barns and dormitory rooms all sport new windows and doors and sparkling white vinyl siding, bringing them up-to-date. The backstretch roads have been repaved, and the rewiring of the entire stable area has been completed, with new sprinkler and alarm systems in place.
Where last year saw the installation of a new turf course (the old one had been built in 1950), this season Monmouth boasts a brand new dirt course.
“The old track was completely stripped away,” he said, “and we put down a new base and a new cushion. It’s a standard racetrack mix, the same one they use at Belmont Park.”
With the grass course having had a year to settle, repairs to the sod were made where necessary, with the prospect of having a close-to-perfect venue for the 2007 meet.
Fans arriving for the meet’s opening days will find some of their usual routes into the track disrupted. Bridges are being rebuilt over the Turtle Mill Creek that winds through the track grounds, with the result that the Victor Avenue entrance into the clubhouse will be closed until mid-June, and the Myrtle Avenue entrance into the stable area will be closed until mid-July.
The thousands of fans who enjoy Monmouth’s expansive picnic area will have even more to love this year. The picnic area has been substantially enlarged to the west, taking over the area that once held the railroad siding. Part of that section will be given over to tents housing parimutuels and televisions.
The major building project is the reconstruction of the Patio Terrace, the southern-most extremity of the clubhouse. The area, which has been closed for several years, has been designed to fill many needs.
“It’s going to look like a mini-model of an off-track wagering facility,” Smith said. “The same architects (Architectural Concepts) who designed it are designing the OTWs in New Jersey.”
While the interior of the Patio Terrace will be a perfect party spot, the structure will get an added boost from a rooftop bar and restaurant. A tent will be constructed on the roof, and the area will be open to the public.
Fans at Monmouth will be able to see and hear a couple of behind-the-scenes improvements. The track has added a state-of-the-art sound and video facility that provides a brand new sound system throughout the entire track, and televises races on $500,000 worth of new flat-screen TV sets throughout the plant.
Purse increase should benefit
competition
The richest purse structure in Monmouth Park history will highlight the 2007 meeting.
Monmouth will disburse an average of $330,000 a day in overnight purses and has scheduled a program of 14 graded stakes worth $4 million. The summer stakes roster is topped by Monmouth’s two Grade 1 events – the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Aug. 5, and the $750,000 United Nations Stakes on July 5.
“The overnight purses will be the highest in the history of New Jersey racing,” said racing secretary Mike Dempsey. “And we’ll average more than a stakes race a day.”
And it’s all a prelude to the Breeders’ Cup. Monmouth will host the 11 Breeders’ Cup races, including three stakes new to the format, worth a total of $23 million. Topping the slate are the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic and the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf to be run on Saturday, Oct. 27.
Monmouth’s ambitious stakes schedule during the summer meet features 13 graded events. There are 28 stakes races for 3-year-olds and up through the meet, with 23 events slated for fillies and mares. There are 15 stakes for 3-year-olds – topped by the Haskell Invitational – and 14 stakes for 3-year-old fillies, headed by the $200,000 Monmouth Breeders’ Cup Oaks on Aug. 12. There will be three events each for 2-year-olds and 2-year-old fillies.
Monmouth has scheduled 14 events exclusively for New Jersey-breds, with eight for 3-year-olds and up, and six for fillies and mares. Four of the stakes will be run on New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival Day, this year scheduled for Aug. 25.
Monmouth Park Graded Stakes Races
DateStake NameGradePurseDistanceCondition
June 16Eatontown StakesG III$150,0001 1/16th mileF/M 3 and up
June 23Salvator Mile StakesG III$150,000one mile3 and up
June 30Boiling Springs StakesG III$150,0001 1/16th mile (turf)F 3-year-olds
July 4Jersey Shore B/C StakesG III$150,000six furlongs3-year-olds
July 7United Nations StakesG I$750,0001 3/8th mile (turf)3 and up
Aug. 5Haskell InvitationalG I$1,000,0001 1/8th mile3-year-olds
Aug. 5Oceanport StakesG III$150,0001 1/16th mile (turf)3 and up
Aug. 5Taylor Made MatchmakerG III$150,0001 1/8th mile (turf)F/M 3 and up
Aug. 12Monmouth B/C OaksG III$200,0001 1/16th mileF 3-year-olds
Aug. 18Philip H. Iselin B/C StakesG III$300,0001 1/8th mile3 and up
Aug. 25Molly Pitcher B/C StakesG II$300,0001 1/16th mileF/M 3 and up
Sept. 1Red Bank StakesG III$150,000one mile (turf)3 and up
Sept. 2 The SaplingG III$150,000six furlongs2-year-olds
Breeders’ Cup Stakes Races
Oct. 24Rutgers University$100,0001 1/16th mile (turf)3-year-olds
Oct. 24Girl Powder (HCP- NJ Bred)$75,000six furlongsF/M 3 and up
Oct. 25Revidere Stakes$100,0001 1/16th mile (turf)F/M 3 and up
Oct. 25Monmouth University Stakes$100,0005.5 furlongs3 and up
Oct. 25Garden State (HCP- NJ Bred)$75,000one mile & 70 yards3 and up
Oct. 25NJ Breeders (HCP- NJ Bred)$75,000six furlongs3 and up
Oct. 27Pegasus StakesG III$250,0001 1/8th mile3-year-olds
Oct. 27 Select Stakes$200,000six furlongs3-year-olds
Oct. 27 Miss Woodford Stakes$200,000six furlongsF 3-year-olds
Oct. 27Breeders’ Cup Turf$3,000,0001.5 miles3 and up
Oct. 27Breeders’ Cup Classic G I$5,000,0001.25 mile3 and up