Monmouth Park Racetrack
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Monmouth Park Racetrack is a track for thoroughbred racing in Oceanport, New Jersey.
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[edit] History
The original track opened July 30, 1870 on what is now the site of the Fort Monmouth parade ground, but was closed from 1873 to 1881 due to financial difficulties. It was bought by David Durham Withers, George L. Lorillard, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., and George P. Wetmore after which Withers ran the facility for more than a decade during which time he helped found racings Board of Control, a predecessor to The Jockey Club. From 1882 to 1890, the track increased in popularity, but legislation proposed in 1891 and enacted in 1894 barred parimutuel gambling in New Jersey, and the track closed its doors.
In 1946, the state legislature passed a bill providing for state regulation of horse racing. Spurred on by Amory L. Haskell, who led the legislative charge to once again permit wagering on horse racing in New Jersey and Philip Iselin, a New York textiles magnate, the new Monmouth Park (organized as the Monmouth Park Jockey Club ) reopened on June 19, 1946, as 18,724 made their way onto the grounds.
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority purchased Monmouth Park from its previous owners, the Monmouth Park Jockey Club, in 1986. The NJSEA still retains the corporate name "Monmouth Park Jockey Club".
Monmouth Park's marquee event is the Haskell Invitational Handicap, named after Amory L. Haskell. The Haskell was first run in 1968 as a handicap, but was made into an Invitational Handicap in 1981. It is now a 1 1/8-mile test for three-year-olds run in early August. Monmouth Park also now showcases the Jersey Derby originally run at Garden State Park until its closure in 2001.
In 2007, Monmouth Park will host the Breeder's Cup for the first time in its history.
[edit] Physical Attributes
The main track is a one mile dirt oval with chutes for 6 furlong and 1 1/4 mile races.
The turf course is seven furlongs in circumference, with a diagonal chute for races between 1 mile and 1 1/8 miles. A re-design of the grass course for the 2006 season brought with it a new, second chute to accommodate 5 1/2 furlong sprint races. Turf races can be run along the hedge, or with the portable rail out 12 feet (dubbed the "Haskell Course"), 24 feet ("Monmouth Course") or 36 feet ("Lennox Course").
The Stable Area, located directly to the north of the back stretch of the main track, contains a total of thirty six barns and stables, eight north of the New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast Line (connected by its own service and access road) and twenty eight on the main complex.
The Wolf Hill Farm, which served Monmouth Park as a private stable and practice facility, is located adjacent to and immediately west of the main complex. Wolf Hill, owned and operated by the Valentino Family from the nearby City of Long Branch, New Jersey featured barns, stables and a practice track featuring a dirt oval and turf course identical to that at Monmouth Park's main facility only built to 50% scale. The Valentino Family sold Wolf Hill Farm to the Monmouth Park Jockey Club in 1963 which then became part of the greater Monmouth Park Complex. It was transferred to state ownership in the 1986 takeover by the NJSEA and was eventually sold to the Monmouth County Park Syatem in 1998 which now operates the site as a passive recreation park. While Wolf Hill ceased operating as a farm following the 1963 sale, owners and trainers continued to use Wolf Hill's practice track well into the 1990s. Remnants of the practice track are still clearly visible on the site.
[edit] Transportation
The Park is served by New Jersey Transit's North Jersey Coast Line during the racing season.
A special train called the "Pony Express" was discontinued after the 2005 racing season. This train operated between Hoboken Terminal and the racetrack, terminating on a rail siding near the grandstand entrance. It was often scouted out by railfans due to the variety of equipment that were used on the train in recent years, ranging from the 1971 vintage Comet I cars to Metro-North Comet Vs.
[edit] Racing
- Grade 2:
- Grade 3:
- Pegasus Stakes 2007
- Eatontown Handicap
- Jersey Shore Breeders' Cup Stakes
- Long Branch Breeders' Cup Stakes
- Matchmaker Stakes
- Monmouth Breeders' Cup Oaks
- Oceanport Handicap
- Philip H. Iselin Breeders' Cup Handicap
- Red Bank Handicap
- Salvator Mile Handicap
- Sapling Stakes
