Clear skies greeted Monmouth Park’s visitors for the final weekend of the venerable Oceanport track’s 76th season in 2021.
Overall handle was up and, not surprisingly, on-track handle nearly doubled compared to a troubled 2020 meet.
“We were happy to have our fans back, we had another memorable TVG.com Haskell Invitational, and we feel good about how Monmouth Park is positioned as we move forward and return to some sense of normalcy during these COVID-19 times,” said Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development, the operator of Monmouth Park.
“This wound up being a transitional year coming out of the worst of COVID-19 a year ago. We overcame some challenging weather early in the meet, purses were very good, and the quality of racing was excellent.”
Monmouth Park’s overall handle for the meet was $173.5 million compared to $167.5 million a year ago.
On-track handle increased to $15.2 million, compared to $8.9 million a year ago.
Other 2021 numbers – and also, here’s to the winners
Meanwhile, simulcast handle was down a negligible amount, from $158.6 million in 2020 to $158.3 million this year.
Monmouth conducted 44 days of live racing a year ago and 55 days this year.
Jockey Paco Lopez easily earned his eighth Monmouth Park riding title with 109 winners — including six on Sunday — to best runner-up Isaac Castillo’s 55 winners. Lopez’s eight titles are second in track history to “Jersey Joe” Bravo’s 13.
Wayne Potts captured the training title with 38 wins, and Colts Neck Stables was the leading owner, with 14 winners from 34 starters.
Drazin told NJ Online Gambling that the total amount wagered was nearly identical to 2020. “You could see there was a lot of interest from people not wanting to be stuck at home again, so the track felt much more alive this summer,” he noted.
What’s next for NJ thoroughbreds
The annual “Monmouth-at-Meadowlands” meet kicks off this weekend with Friday/Saturday racing, and that continues on Oct. 8-9 as well, with more thoroughbred racing in Bergen County on Oct. 15, Oct. 23 and Oct. 30.
As for next year “down the shore,” Drazin said track officials are mulling what dates to put forth to the state Racing Commission on Oct. 15.
The brief October at Meadowlands meet is expected to be back, but the start date at Oceanport is in flux. This year’s Memorial Day weekend kickoff was relatively late, but under consideration is whether to start the meet as soon as the first Saturday in May — Kentucky Derby day.
That start could lead to a wrapup of the meet on Labor Day weekend. Drazin said that September weekend racing is “a mixed bag,” with many gamblers preferring to watch college football on Saturdays and the NFL on Sundays. There also are fewer visitors to the Shore as the weather cools.
Free parking and free admission in 2021 cost the track perhaps $750,000, but Drazin said that was an act of goodwill toward the longtime patrons who like everyone else had to battle through the COVID-19 pandemic. Modest charges for each are liable to return in 2022.
Whips and a disqualification
The Haskell feature race wound up as a memorable one, if not for purely ideal reasons.
Hot Rod Charlie, the apparent winner, was disqualified for veering into the lane of rival Midnight Bourbon, sending Lopez, the jockey on the latter horse, tumbling to the track.
Losing jockey Flavien Plat suggested that the limitations on the use of riding crops in New Jersey — the strictest regulations in the U.S. — led to the mishap. But Drazin strongly countered that claim, saying that “if he had to hit the horse once, nothing would have happened” in terms of a risk of disqualification. “It was just his error in judgment.”
After plenty of gripes from jockeys before the meet began, things mostly settled down at Monmouth Park in spite of the Haskell kerfuffle. But just as the meet neared an end, jockey Tomas Mejia was hit with a 10-year ban that might stretch to a lifetime for possession of a buzzer in a photo immediately following a winning race on Sept. 3.
