Monmouth Park 2023 season preview: A debate has split horsemen into two factions
OCEANPORT – It’s a debate that’s raged among Monmouth Park horsemen for two decades: Should the Jersey Shore track run fewer days with higher purses, or more days with lower purses?
Now, with the pandemic in the rearview mirror and purses elevated by a $10-million taxpayer-funded subsidy, there’s a growing number of regulars pushing to have the meet extended in the future.
The 2023 season opens Saturday, May 13 with a 12:40 p.m. post time.
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Adding fueling to the fire is the fact that the upcoming meet is only 51 days. That’s nine fewer than last summer, when the $31 million in purses and bonuses was the most since 2011, and an average per-race purse of over $51,000 was the most since the 2010 Elite Meet, which featured the highest daily purses in the country.
“I’d take less money and 100 days in a heartbeat,” said trainer Chuck Spina, a Monmouth Beach resident who began coming to Monmouth Park in 1971, when given the choice between 50 days at the anticipated purse level - around $400,000 per-day - or twice that at half the daily purses.
This year's meet starts a week later than last year and the Sept. 10 closing date is a week earlier than the 2022 meet.
'There are two factions'
“I would take lower purses for more days, personally,” said trainer Gregg Sacco, an Ocean Township resident and second-generation Monmouth Park trainer. “It would suit my outfit. It might not suit the Chad Browns and the Todd Pletchers, but it’s suitable for the bigger percentage of trainers here.”
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But how realistic is it, given the economic challenges facing the sport?
“There are two factions,” said Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, which operates the track for the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “A lot of the guys say that the Pletchers and Browns won’t come down and we can win more and we’d rather have that kind of meet. And others are saying they want quality races, they want higher purses, they want to compete.
“We want to be the highest purses in the region behind New York, so that we are higher than Maryland, higher than Philadelphia. We think that is the right way to approach the meet. Plus, if you have double the days, you are raising your costs.”
Last year, Pletcher and Brown, two of the nation’s leading trainers, whose top runners are based in New York, won 32 races and earned $3.1 million at Monmouth Park.
Beyond the fiscal razor edge Monmouth Park must navigate - hoping bettors wagering more on good races offsets the higher purses - there’s also a nationwide shortage of horses.
“I’m for running more days, but I do like the way it is. I’m happy that the purses are good,” said trainer Kent Sweezey, a Kentucky native who has made Monmouth Park his home the past six summers.
“If you could come in and have four days of racing all summer, that would be great. But no one seems able to do that anymore. Only NYRA and Churchill and Keeneland can do that and have full fields every race day. You’re going to have full fields the first few weeks and then look up and there are injuries, horses get claimed, they get tired.”
Everything changes if legislators in Trenton cut the racing industry subsidy, which Drazin indicated is currently included in the 2024 budget. And the industry is seeking to add a measure of security by renewing the five-year, $100 million subsidy package that ends this year, with the money is split between thoroughbreds and standardbreds.
But gaining traction is the theory that spreading the money out over more days would ensure more of the subsidy goes to local trainers, with bigger, national outfits staying away if the purses are too low.
"I do understand why you want the Chad Browns and the Todd Pletchers," Sacco said. "They’re the marquee names in the business, so for Monmouth or any other track you want to attract them. Bettors all over the world associate with those two guys. They’re global names, so for Monmouth Park to have them stabled here, it’s a feather in their cap.
"And I’m fine with having them here. But I would just like more days.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth Park NJ 2023: Purses, racing days ignites debate
