Monmouth Park

Dating back to 1870, Monmouth Park is the Jersey Shore; the Jersey Shore is Monmouth Park. Depending on the era, fans came by car, train, dubbed the “Pony Express,” and back in those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, by ferry from the southern tip of Manhattan to the heartbeat of the Garden State.

Such is the tradition of Monmouth Park, an integral part of the Shore community since the day it opened, July 30^th, 1870, in the town of Oceanport, a stone’s throw from big brother Long Branch. The idea was to make the Jersey Shore a national destination for having hot fun in the summertime.

Ever since, the racetrack has been the communal rock, even in the toughest times. Its first meet was a mere five days but the attendant publicity made it the summer playground just south of the Empire State, northeast of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley.

In its early days the quality of racing was so high that some observers would refer to it as the “Newmarket of America,” but the momentum didn’t last. The track could not sustain itself and was forced to close only three years after it opened.

An investment group rescued the racetrack, took four years to restore the grounds, pay off the debtors, and rebuild the grandstand in time for a grand reopening in 1882. It did so well that a new racecourse was erected right next door, which opened in 1890. However, the new track didn’t last either.

The very next year, the New Jersey state legislature began a campaign to suppress pari-mutuel wagering, which forced Monmouth to move its meet across East River to Jerome Park and Morris Park while it tried to convince politicians to rethink their position. They couldn’t.

Finally, the state had its way and on March 21^th, 1894, it banned wagering on horses. Resultingly, the track was closed again, the land upon which it stood was sold and racing would not return to New Jersey until a half-century later.

In the 1940’s, the influential Amory L. Haskell played a major role in lobbying lawmakers to restore pari-mutuel wagering for both the Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries, also serving the interests of a burgeoning breeding industry in central New Jersey.

Enlisting the help of industry captains and influential horsemen Philip Iselin, Joseph M. Roebling, Townsend B. Martin and James Cox Brady, the Monmouth Park Jockey Club was formed and the track reopened a third time on June 19, 1946. That the same structure exists today.

In 1986, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority purchased Monmouth Park and revived many of the historic stakes run in the late 1800s, including the Monmouth Cup, inaugurated in 1884 but now as the Iselin Handicap. Twenty-one years later Monmouth held its first Breeders’ Cup, the first year as a two-day event.

Today, all states that derive revenue from legal sports wagering have the state of New Jersey and Monmouth Park to thank.

After a protracted battle in which the state challenged the constitutionality of the ban on sports wagering outside of Nevada, New Jersey won the lawsuit and Monmouth Park became the first entity to offer legal sports betting outside Nevada.

While the racing has suffered periods of fits and starts, forcing a reduction of its meet from six months to approximately 50 days, May through September, the Monmouth product has remained solid.

The track offers 12 graded events, 19 listed stakes, highlighted by the G2 Monmouth Stakes and two Grade 1s, the United Nations and, of course, the storied Grade 1 Haskell. That 9-furlong event, and Saratoga’s G1 Travers, are major divisional stops for three-year-olds between the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup.

The Haskell, inaugurated in 1968, is Monmouth’s seminal event. The race starts at the top of the stretch of the one-mile oval with two chutes and it surrounds a 7-furlong grass course with three chutes, including a diagonal that runs across the infield for races at common route distances.

Monmouth Park has paid dearly to give its marquee race the prestige it enjoys. It raised the purse to $1-million in 1997 and twice subsequently paid a healthy royalty to tempt top attractions.

Monmouth raised the Haskell purse 50% to attract 2002 double Classic winner War Emblem, and to an astounding $1,750,000 to bring Triple Crown hero American Pharoah to the Shore. It turned that appearance into a week-long public relations coup, nightly news and all.

Ten Haskell winners earned divisional titles as Eclipse Award champions and four were named Horse of the Year. The most celebrated winners were greats such as Wajima in 1975, Holy Bull in 1994, Skip Away two years later, and Point Given in 2001.

It also elevated two fillies, Serena’s Song in 1995, and 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra.

Training legends Laz Barrera, David Whiteley, Woody Stephens, Wayne Lukas, Shug McGaughey, Steve Asmussen and Richard Mandella have won it, though they pale in comparison to Todd Pletcher with three and Bob Baffert, who has won an amazing nine renewals through 2020.

No jockey has dominated the race but many Hall of Famers have won it, including Mike Smith, thrice; Jerry Bailey, Craig Perret, Gary Stevens, Jose Santos, Johnny Velazquez, and Kent Desormeaux (twice each), Laffit Pincay Jr., Chris McCarron, Pat Day, Braulio Baeza and Edgar Prado.

Two others have dominated the local meet and have become Monmouth Park legends, “Jersey Joe” Bravo, who did get his Haskell in 2004, and legendary Julie Krone, who subjugated rivals day after day, but found the Haskell trophy elusive.

Rest assured, however, that Monmouth Park launched the career of the first female rider ever inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame.