Big $ MTH "uber meet" experiment moving forward
 

Monmouth may offer $1M a day in purses
By Matt Hegarty

http://www.drf.com/news/article/111078.html

Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey, will run a 50-day meet in 2010 with purses averaging $1 million a day under a plan proposed by Gov. Chris Christie and supported by the state's horsemen, according to a report in the Newark Star-Ledger. The plan calls for racing on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from May 22 to Labor Day, and would also entail dropping the Meadowlands's fall Thoroughbred meet, according to the Star-Ledger.

Monmouth and the Meadowlands are operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, a state agency. Earlier this year, a report commissioned by Gov. Christie called for the elimination of the Meadowlands meet and a 50-day meet at Monmouth, a dramatic reduction of the 141 live Thoroughbred racing dates that are required under a contract between the NJSEA and the state's horsemen through 2016. According to the report, horseracing operations at the NJSEA lost $13 million in 2009 [it has been widely but incorrectly reported that the racing operations lost $22 million].

At the time the report was released, Dennis Drazin, the former president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, said that horsemen and management of the NJSEA had discussed the possibility of a 50-day meet, but that horsemen would not support the plan unless the state could guarantee that purses would be $1 million a day. According to Drazin, the state had balked at providing that guarantee.

Wow indeed. Now that is a boutique meet.

Future of racing..like it or not

Less racing, but presumably of higher qualty. No complaints here.

Yeah, if they can coordinate boutique meets accross the country so one is winding down and another is coming up, that would be cool.
Satish could work out the details as $1 year Commish!

If an allowance race is going to be carded with a 75k purse, MDN SPL at 75, and 50k claimers 75k you are going to see a bunch of nice races. Plus maybe some people will come to NJ vs. WB.. I can't see people running to poly in Canada when they wil have dirt and grass on the Jersey shore in JULY.

I can live with Fri-Sun only since those are the days I go to the track anyway. I'm always skeptical of anything this screwed up state proposes however. I need to hear more opinions from better informed people.

I think it is a wonderful idea.

It would figure to weaken Saratoga's cards if it runs through labor day.

I think that is the objective.

In other words .... we can look forward to MUCH better weekend racing cards in Jersey .. and more NY breds and turf sprints at Saratoga? ... I dunno if that's the greatest of trade offs.

Turning out there's a bit 'less' to this than it looks..

Original reporting of the story by Tom Luicci/The Star-Ledger
http://www.nj.com/sports/njsports/in...outh_park.html

It's not just 50 days in the summer, and the $50MM number includes the stakes AND overnight programs...There's also a 21 day Sept-Nov meet that will run for $250-$300k/day ($5.5MM), and the stakes program is worth about $5MM. So take $10-$11MM off the $50MM total and you are actually around $775-$800k a day for the summer meet. And even that number is not purse money exclusively.

And I'm being told that the Star-Ledger was very premature releasing this. There are many i's to dot and t's to cross yet...

If they install some lights at Monmouth and run at night a few times a meet to make up for the nights they would have done at the Swamp, I think this is a blockbuster idea. Who needs a Wednesday card full of $5k claimers at the Shore? Weekends there are wonderful, might as well beef up those and leave the meat and potatoes racing to Philadelphia and Delaware where slots can prop up the lower level racing.

Steve what would your thoughts be on running Saratoga 4 days a week Memorial Day through labor day and have Belmont take some of AQU early spring and late fall dates?

Sounds good to me

Not really logistically possible - the Belmont is after Memorial Day anyways - and Saratoga has been watered down enough already with the added days.

800k a day ain't to shabby..Quarter Claimers will go for 50k THAT WORKS and there will be 12 in the box with 3 on the AE list.. Guys will be racing 50 claimers in 25's in a heart beat. You want to see great MDN SPL besides the SPA card? Watch what happens when the purse is 78k vs. NYRA's 48.. Can I get a Carolina franchise?

Anything's gotta be a much tougher racket than selling Stone Cold Steve Austin T-shirts to a bunch of degenerate trashy wrestling fans.

I printed not less then 2 mil Stone Cold WWE tees.. He was a G-d

FreddyMo 3:16

Makes sense , I like it ! Gonna be a high quality meet !:tro:

:tro: :tro: :tro:

So NJ stands to destroy NY racing
 

Interesting.
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2...1575909410.txt

As nice is SPA is during the summer..With the daily T storms..The Jersey Shore is a helluva nice place to set up shop for a few months. NYC 35 miles away.. Philly 65.. and of course you can hang with Snookie and "the Situation" in Seaside

A boutique meet would be a great idea for Monmouth. Let's see it get done, however.

If only the could helicopter people in so you wouldn't have to deal with the traffic.

The parkway in summer sucks but don't worry I will hook you up with the back roads. Plus you will be staying a cab ride away with an ocean front room at the Long Branch Pier..The traffic only sucks in the morning.. Monmouth really could be an awesome boutique meet. Let SPA run 4 NY bred races 2 stakes 2 Mdn Spl and claimer turf sprint. Monmouth willtake the allowance, opt claimers. claimers and stake here or there

Can you also do something about the biased track? :p

Believe it or not... the MTH track is pretty fair most days. Favors the inside sometimes but a lot of times it's pretty straightforward.

why? You like Keeneland better now.. Maybe we should changethe moniker to Ms. Fat Man?

If I ever get fat take me outside and shoot me. :o

Shoot you because of a few extra lbs? It's all good

dont knock it til ya try it.

New Jersey plan: high risk, high reward
By Matt Hegarty

Horsemen and racetracks in the Northeast are anxiously waiting to hear whether the state of New Jersey plans to press forward with a plan that would triple purses at Monmouth Park during a boutique 50-day race meet this summer, a high-risk proposal that could have dramatic effects on the racing landscape.

Although the plan is subject to change and may not even be implemented, many New Jersey officials who support the proposal call it a potential "revolution." Under the proposal, Monmouth Park would offer $1 million in purses each day - tops in the U.S. - while holding live racing only on days the track can expect to draw thousands of casual customers from the throngs that surge to the Jersey Shore during summer Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The meet would run from late May until Labor Day and most significantly affect meets at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course by drawing horses from the two New York tracks.

The proposal underlines dramatic changes taking place in Thoroughbred racing as a result of precipitous drops over the last 18 months in handle, purses, and the foal crop. To stand out on a national landscape cluttered with racetrack-casinos offering subsidized purses and extended live meets, many racing officials say, non-subsidized tracks will have to adopt plans similar to the Monmouth Park proposal, even if it means disrupting traditional circuits.

"We need to figure out ways for horseracing to survive, and not only to survive, but ways for horseracing to thrive in New Jersey," said Tom Swales, the president of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association of New Jersey, an organization involved in the negotiations over the 2010 Monmouth Park meet. "This is one avenue."

CONTINUED

I'm sorry, fair?

While I don't have any statistics to support this (which I am sure I will be ripped for), and I don't really feel like spending the hours to research it, I would have to say just from watching racing there for the past 20 + years that you want to be on the lead at this place. While it's not the inner merry-go-round at Ozone Park, it is very close IMO.

If you don't have early quicks, don't bother coming.

I do have statistics to support it.
I researched 5 years of results and the average position of the winner at the 2nd call for the winner was almost exactly the same as Belmont Park and Aqueduct (about 2.5 lengths off the pace.)

For that matter, in the same post a reference was made to the inner "merry-go-round" which anyone who follows NY racing day in and day out knows hasn't been around since Glen Kozak took over, with the exception of a few days each meet.

NT

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...monmouth-dates

Most important thing I grabbed from the article was the last sentence

Yeah, and where is that gonna come from. Whoa