It takes a certain breed of horse to win a grade 1 stakes such as the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1).
It also takes a certain breed of racetrack executive to work at Monmouth Park.
Though you will not find it in the track's employee handbook, dogged determination is surely required to run a racetrack where a stakes should be named after the Greek mythology figure Sisyphus.
As legend has it, Sisyphus' lot in life was to continually push a large rock up a hill, and each time he reached the top it would roll down and he would have to start all over again.
Welcome to Monmouth Park 2021 where, as in each year for about the last decade, there has been a roller coaster of events bringing some good news and innovations inherently followed by some pitfalls.
"Every time we push that boulder up, it comes down," said John Heims, Monmouth's director of racing and racing secretary. "Every time we get some momentum, there's something like whip rules or heat or rain that pops up. People need to realize we would not have a multi-billion dollar sports industry in this country without (Monmouth's chief executive) Dennis Drazin winning in the Supreme Court when most people didn't think he could. It's a challenge here but none of us mind it. We're not woe-is-us type of people."
The bright side for this summer's meet includes fans returning to the racetrack in larger numbers (Monmouth allowed about 4,000 fans a day last year during the pandemic), a top-notch field for the July 17 Haskell, a purse enhancement that goes into effect Saturday, a new $500,000 stakes, and the impending start of fixed-odds wagering in partnership with BetMakers.
"Everybody is happy. The owners are back on the backside. They are in the winner's circle and paddock. They are engaging each other without masks," said Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development which operates Monmouth Park. "I'm sure we get some unvaccinated people but it's still a good feel. Everything feels like normal when I look at the track or the restaurant. It looks like people are ready to lift the fear and interact."
Up goes the boulder.
At the other end of the seesaw, none of it Monmouth's fault, have been an unusual amount of rain, the New Jersey Racing Commission banning riders from using their crops except for safety reasons, and delays in Gov. Phil Murphy signing the fixed-odds legislation and state rules for it being established.
Down goes the boulder.
On the positive side, Drazin is hopeful of a crowd of 30,000 being on hand Saturday for a card with five graded stakes, two of them grade 1.
"It will not be a 60,000 crowd like American Pharoah brought (in 2015), but somewhere around 30,000 is a realistic expectation," Drazin said. "I can feel the excitement for the day. You have the top 3-year-olds in training in the race. Not all of them, but a good, representative class of 3-year-olds who are in the conversation for 3-year-old honors. You want all of them but it never works out that way."
The Haskell, which was won by the last two 3-year-old champions, drew a quality field of seven with Hot Rod Charlie, Mandaloun , Midnight Bourbon, and Following Sea comprising the Fab Four and three New Jersey-based longshots adding some local flavor. Oddly enough, the Haskell attracted the three horses (Mandaloun, Midnight Bourbon, and Hot Rod Charlie, respectively) who were second in the three legs of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), Preakness Stakes (G1), and Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1).
A victory will be a glittering addition to the winner's résumé when Eclipse Award voting begins but it will also be lucrative, with the victor also getting a "Win and You're In" free spot in the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and a chance to collect the $1 million BetMasters Bonanza for sweeping the Haskell, Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1), and Classic.
Just last year, Horse of the Year Authentic won the Haskell and ran the table by also pocketing the free Classic entry—a race which he ultimately won—and a $1 million bonus for taking the Haskell, Kentucky Derby, and Classic.
The purse enhancements are fueled by $2.5 million in a state supplement and extra revenue from races not carded due to rainy forecasts and scratches. Monmouth was originally scheduled to receive a $10 million purse stimulus in 2021 before it was reduced to $7.5 million and then raised back to the $10 million level. Heims said the $10 million purse supplement is also on the books for 2022.
As a result, stakes such as the Monmouth Oaks (G3), Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3), Sapling Stakes, and Sorority Stakes received purse bumps, and there will be increases of 20% for maiden special weight races and allowance races, 10% for claiming races of more than $12,500, and 5% for $12,500 claimers or less beginning Saturday.
Three extra Friday race dates were also added to the September calendar.
The biggest boost was to the Sept. 26 Nownownow Stakes, a grass stakes for 2-year-olds, that rose from $150,000 to $500,000 in hopes of making it a premier prep for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).
"If you can build a race for the future that can hopefully become a prep for the Breeders' Cup, then why not go for it? We're going to put up real money and we'll see what happens. Hopefully it's something we can build off and make it a marquee race for us late in the year," Heims said about a race named after the horse who won the inaugural Juvenile Turf at Monmouth Park in 2007.
Since legislative approval for fixed-odds wagering took place June 21, there were hopes that fixed odds wagering would be in place by Haskell Day, but without Murphy's signature attached to the legislation it will likely be a few more weeks before it is introduced.
Murphy has 45 days from June 21 to sign the legislation.
"If it takes an extra week, it takes an extra week. Whatever it takes to get it up the right way, we're more than comfortable with that," said Dallas Baker, head of international operations for BetMakers.
Baker is quite confident the ability to lock in odds will prove quite popular with racing fans across the country.
"Businesses that improve their customer service benefit from it and I believe fixed-odds will improve customer service for horse racing. We're trying to give racing a piece of the sports betting market," Baker said. "Normally sports is on the back of racing but in this, racing is on the back of sports. There is a market for horse racing that can become quite lucrative through fixed-odds betting. We know it will be successful in the United States, the salient point is how long it takes to get there. We don't expect to flip the switch the first day and expect it to be huge. We're not looking for miracles in that first month."
Weather, the Achilles heel of any summer track, has been a particular problem at the Jersey Shore. The first 15 turf races beginning with the May 28 opening day were shifted to the main track and through July 15, of the 88 turf races, 35 were moved (39.8%) off the turf.
Because of all that wet weather, the 213 races during the first 22 days of the meet have been hit with 338 scratches.
As result, Monmouth reports it has total 2021 handle figures of $64.3 million in simulcast wagering and $5.4 million on track. In terms of a comparison, the five race days from July 3 produced a live handle of $1,239,059, an increase of 28% from 2020, while the simulcast handle of $14,350,468 marked a 27% decrease.
"Business has been good," Heims said. "I don't want to blame the weather, but I wish it would cooperate more. Entries have been good. There are no disappointments. You always want more but that's the nature of every business."
The controversial riding crop rule overshadowed the start of the meet as top national riders and the Jockeys' Guild labeled the restrictions unsafe and the track's perennial riding champ, "Jersey" Joe Bravo, refused to ride at the meet and is now in California.
Following some initial outcry, after riders and trainers became resigned to the situation, Drazin said the lack of encouragement from a crop became less of an issue.
"We had the initial phase of controversy with the whip rule but we got through that. There were a few wrinkles but we're past that now," Drazin said.
Though there were concerns that out-of-town riders would not participate in the Haskell and other stakes, the visiting riders on the card include Flavien Prat, Florent Geroux, Joel Rosario, Tyler Gaffalione, David Cohen, and Joe Talamo.
"It has been safe," Drazin said, "and there had been no incidents."
That furor, however, regained some momentum in the July 11 first race when, according to the Equibase chart, it was noted that jockey Carlos Montalvo used his crop three times in guiding 28-1 shot M I Six to victory.
Montalvo, who in published reports indicated he used the crop for safety because M I Six was coming out, became the first jockey called in to meet with the stewards for using a crop during a race. His hearing took place July 16, though the stewards are not expected to decide until next week whether they will fine and suspend Montalvo or accept his explanation.
"I want things to be safe. I don't want a bad situation. I don't want injuries or a situation where the lack of the use of the whip creates a dangerous situation. So far I haven't seen any incidents, though I get complaints from owners or trainers that their horse could have been exerted more with the whip and placed better," Drazin said. "But maybe that's a good thing. Maybe not asking a horse for every bit of speed in the final stage of a race might eliminate some injuries, and if a horse hasn't exerted himself fully, maybe he can recover quicker and run back sooner. That's all speculation. I'll leave it to a fair evaluation of our meet to decide if it worked. I'm just happy there have been no major incidents. We had two races where the jockey came off at the start, but the whip had nothing to do with that."
Monmouth appears to have dodged the proverbial bullet for its biggest day of the year as the placing of a barn at Saratoga Race Course under a precautionary quarantine until further notice due to a positive case of Equine Herpesvirus-1 has so far not prevented New York shippers from arriving for Saturday's races. Heims said on Friday afternoon that New Jersey-based horses cannot ship to New York and then return to Monmouth at the moment, though the New York shippers on the grounds can return to the Empire State.
Looking ahead, Drazin likes what he sees.
"So far, optimistically our expectations are that the meet will stay strong the rest of the way and the horsemen will stay to the end to benefit from the product," he said.
Up goes the boulder.
