As Monmouth Park's future comes into focus, betting numbers rise across board in 2024

As Monmouth Park’s future comes into focus, betting numbers rise across board in 2024

Posted by Admin September 15, 2024 Horse Racing

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It’s been a transformative year at Monmouth Park on several fronts.

And with Sunday’s conclusion of the Oceanport racetrack’s 50-day meet, the betting numbers were up across the board over last year.

With betting records set on Haskell Day and Haskell Preview Day serving as the foundation, to go with a crowd of 28,976 showing up on Father’s Day, the track had a 5.4 percent increase in average daily handle at $4,251,695, up from $4,032,648 from 2023, when there were 51 racing days. The average on-track daily handle was up 3.2 percent at $352,939, while total handle was up nearly $7 million at $212.6 million.

More: A closer look at Monmouth Park development lease: 298 rental units, hotel, a future for racing?

“It’s been great. To tell you the truth we had a stellar meet,” said Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC., which operates Monmouth Park. “We set a number of records. Haskell Day was the largest since American Pharoah, and Father’s Day was 29,000. It’s been a solid meet. The weather has cooperated, and all-in-all we’re very pleased with the meet we put on this year.”

The strong handle numbers come in the wake of Darby taking over a new 85-year lease on Monmouth Park from the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority ahead of Phase 1 of a major development on the property aimed at securing the long-term future of thoroughbred racing in the state.

Drazin cites a new deal that put Monmouth Park races on Fox Sports as contributing to the increase in handle. In addition, it was announced in July that NYRA Bets, which now sponsors the $1 million Haskell Stakes, will operate the state’s account wagering system, which will give New Jersey bettors more options by giving all betting platforms a chance to operate in the state.

On Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill giving the New Jersey horse racing industry a potential $100 million of purse money over five years through 2029, with Monmouth Park receiving $10 million annually. The funding will still be subject to appropriation by the governor and lawmakers each fiscal year.

And construction is expected to be completed later this year on the new stand-alone Caesars Sportsbook at Monmouth Park.

“We’ve been working hard for years to turn Monmouth Park around, from where the state was losing $17.5 million in 2011,” said Drazin, who founded Darby in 2012 to operate the track. “Now we’re showing a profit and all the visions we had are coming together. Perhaps not as quickly as we preferred, but this is actually the original vision in 2012 in projecting what the future would look like. We always had this development in mind.”

On the track, jockey Paco Lopez won his 11th riding title at the track, and his sixth straight, while trainer Claudio Gonzalez won his third straight conditioning title. Rumson resident Robert Reidy won his first owners title, winning 14 races.

Monmouth Park will run 10 all-turf racing cards at the Meadowlands, beginning Friday through Oct. 18.