Sports Illustrated - Monmouth Park #1
 

From Sports Illustrated July 10th

Sports on the cheap: The 25 best summer sports bargains

Sure, life's expensive. But attending sporting events doesn't have to be. Below, SI.com offers its list of the top summer sports deals across the country.

1. Monmouth Park Racetrack -- Oceanport, N.J.

The dollar menu isn't limited to McDonald's: You can watch the ponies every Friday in July for just $1. It's the same price for grandstand admission, an official track program and hot dogs and sodas.

Nice to see something positive about a track and racing. Especially since it's our local track 10 minutes from our home.

Monmouth was the first track I attended truly regularly throughout an entire meet when living in Brielle in 1988. It was that summer that really stamped me as a racing fan. It's an utter delight and continues to be one of the oddly under-appreciated facilities in racing.

Monmouth is a great place. Have you seen some the fields this year? They actually have some race horses. More importantly, Rachel is coming and they banged the purse up another 250k to 1,250,000 which is a nice gesture. Although if management would have used their heads they could have added 20k to every race that day and called it Horseman Appreciation day.. You think the extra 150 that Rachel or Munnings is going to win is going to help Jess or Tabor out? I guess the charity could be the benefactor of the extra 250k but again I think it could have been better used to sweeten the smaller pots. The Haskell is the Haskell at 1mil or 1.25mil..At least management did something?

Speaking of Haskell, Haskin brought up the interesting point last night on ATR that the race had three "house horses" (Monmouth-based) in Musket Man, Atomic Rain and Big Drama that are all missing the race for disparate reasons...

We agreed the $250k was a strange move.

I just don't dig the course. And the New Jersey breds are absolutely horrendous.

Agree that the NJ breds are generally horrendous in ability but there's a LOT of value in those races if you're willing to put in some work. People just bet trainers/jockeys in those races because of their nondescript pedigrees and ability.

As for the plant, I love Monmouth Park. I sincerely hope they get another shot at the BC because the Noah's Ark wasn't their fault, it actually usually is pleasant and dry on the Jersey Shore in October.

Monmouth
 

I grew up in New Jersey and spent many a summer day at Monmouth Park. I recently had the opportunity to go back there about 5 weeks ago after an absence of some 25 plus years. Although it was pouring rain that day, we had a wonderful day and topped it up with a Shore Dinner of steamers in Belmar. Look forward to getting back there next year.

PSH

[quote=Kasept]Speaking of Haskell, Haskin brought up the interesting point last night on ATR that the race had three "house horses" (Monmouth-based) in Musket Man, Atomic Rain and Big Drama that are all missing the race for disparate reasons...QUOTE]
I didn't ever know he was in but why is Musket Man out?

It was bone bruising right? When I heard Nicanor had that I remember thinking Musket Man was the other one. Was MM's just worse or is Nicanor also out for the year? I didn't get the impression the latter was the case.

Yeah but the point of the article in SI was finding cheap, fun, sporting events to attend. Aka not geared toward a horse player. I doubt a family showing up for an afternoon is concerned about NJ breds and how good or bad they are, they are concentrating on keeping the kids entertained for the afternoon.

Key word being "fun" for the whole family.

Fun for the whole family at the track is such an intriguing idea because I believe you have two strong opinions in the average horse players.

"A" Horse Player does not want to be around kids at the track and usually can be found in the simulcasting area. Usually either a married man in his 30's or 40's with kids of his own and this is his escape from reality or is a retired man in his 60's, 70's or 80's and is just happy to get out of the house once in a while.

"B" Horse Player is married as well but really enjoys bringing the family to the track. They can be found sitting in their lawn chairs enjoying the afternoon sun while the little tikes eat ice cream and ride the pony. Mom makes an occasional bet while Dad gets at 'em from start to finish. They usually come to the track as a family once or twice a month. Mom and Dad have been known to show up a few times without the little tikes.

How do you promote the sport, a track etc and keep both players happy? Voucher giveaway, a section of the track designed for the little tikes with pony rides, ice cream etc is a good start don't you agree? Making sure that Horseplayer "A" can have his or her serenity while keeping "B" happy is a challenge.

It is well known that when the economy is down as a whole gambling goes up, especially in the lower income brakets. With times being the way they are what better way to bring out the occasional fans then free vouchers? You may not bring alot of new faces to the game right now with this method but if you can get the family to come out one or two more times ths Summer or Fall then it is a victory. especially if they eat BBQ at Toga:D

You forgot the "C" Horse player - the woman who is placing more than the "occasional bet" :rolleyes:

Yeah my fault.

Yeah I wonder why women don't go to Scioto Downs to bet simulcast on a Weds afternoon with some of the characters they have running around. This past Weds afternoon two middle aged men got into an argument and then one grabs the others reading glasses and stomps on them. Next thing I know one is chasing the other around the simulcast hall and the smaller guy is yelling "Pick on someone your own size". Security stepped in and made the peace, threatning them with being banned. They settled down realizing that they practically live there and what would they do if they could not go to Scioto every day? :zz:

Ah yes just another Weds afternoon at one of the great betting facilities in Ohio:rolleyes:

MTH
 

Going to the track is the ONLY thing I miss since moving from NJ. Regarding the surface, speed does generally hold. As far as the BC Cup coming back, shame about the rain, however it has to be considered the most formful of all Breeders Cup's that I have seen. Can anybody think of a main day card that the horses that won were less of a shock than that BC?

exactly, I love going out to Suffolk Downs for a fun Saturday, cheap food and cheap beer. Yeah it's no Saratoga but for a quick get together with some buddies, it's a blast.