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New Jersey Racing News 2009 |
ATLANTIC CITY HANDLE SOARS
By Matt Hegarty, Daily Racing Form
Average daily all-sources wagering on races held at Atlantic City Race Course was up 300 percent for the meet that ended May 1 because of the widespread availability of its racing signal at out-of-state sites for the first time in 10 years, according to figures provided by the track.
The average daily figure of $543,325 for six days of racing was up 303 percent from the $134,655 figure posted last year, when wagers were only accepted on-track. Total handle for the six days this year was $3,259,953, compared to $807,932 last year.
Ontrack wagering was down 7.5 percent, from the $134,655 figure posted last year to $124,541. The Atlantic City racing signal was available at many tracks and simulcasting locations on the Eastern seaboard, so ontrack handle was expected to decline.
Atlantic City held a total of 37 races, all on the grass. The average field size was 10.5 horses per race.
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ALL-TURF HANDLE QUADRUPLES AT ATLANTIC CITY
ORR.com
Tom LaMarra is reporting in the Bloodhorse online that The New Jersey racing scene shifts to Monmouth Park May 9 after kicking off with a six-day Atlantic City Race Course meet at which total handle quadrupled.
Atlantic City raced six days (Thursdays and Fridays) from April 16-May 1, with all 37 races on the grass. For the first time in many years, the track exported its signal, but some betting outlets and account wagering providers missed the first several days of the meet.
In all, $3,259,953 was wagered on Atlantic City races, up from $809,932 for six days last year, when only on-track betting was available, according to figures from the track’s official charts. Both years, six races were offered each of the first five days, and seven on the final day.
With many Mid-Atlantic tracks taking the signal, total on-track handle on live races declined slightly to $771,243 (a daily average of $128,540). The figure doesn’t include handle from full-card simulcasts offered at Atlantic City.
Total off-track handle on live racing was $2,488,710 (a daily average of $414,785). The track’s biggest day was April 30, when off-track handle was $800,709, and total handle $921,841. TVG showed all or stretch calls of the track’s races the last two days of the meet.
Despite having a yielding turf course the first week of the meet, field size increased to 10.46 horses per race, up from 9.92 in 2007, according to The Jockey Club Information Systems. Purses averaged $120,332 this year, down from $133,283 last year.
With no turnstiles, reported attendance is a loose figure. The average was 4,278 for racing programs that began at 3:30 p.m. EDT each day.
The New Jersey Racing Commission has urged Atlantic City, owned by Pennsylvania-based Greenwood Racing, to add live racing days moving forward. The NJRC last year awarded the track 20 days, but its schedule was reduced in exchange for not pursuing part of a three-year, $90-million casino purse subsidy that expires in 2010.
Monmouth, meanwhile, has increased stakes purses 12% for its season, which runs through Sept. 27. The meet as usual is highlighted by the $1-million Haskell Invitational for 3-year-olds Aug. 2.
Monmouth will offer about $4.7 million in stakes in 2009. As for overnight races, maiden special weight events will go for $38,000, with an entry-level allowance race at $41,000. For races restricted to New Jersey-bred horses, those purses will be $47,000 and $51,000, respectively.
The bottom purse in the first condition book is $10,000 for $10,000 maiden claimers. An open $5,000 claiming race goes for $18,000.
Monmouth, where purses could average about $300,000 a day, reported a slight increase in total handle last year.
Meadowlands will offer a two-month Thoroughbred meet after Monmouth closes.
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JERSEY GOVERNOR OKS PURSE SUPPLEMENTS
ORR.com
Tom LaMarra is reporting in the Bloodhorse online that New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed legislation April 11 that allows a $90-million purse supplement for New Jersey racetracks to move forward.
The measure, which awards horse racing $30 million a year for three years from casino revenue, also grants the Atlantic City casinos a tax break on promotional gaming credits. The casinos and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates Monmouth Park and Meadowlands, must produce a signed agreement.
How the $30 million a year will be divvied up remains to be seen, but it is believed Thoroughbred interests would get $15 million and Standardbred interests $15 million. Under a previous four-year supplement deal with the casinos, the money went to Monmouth and Meadowlands for Thoroughbred meets, and Meadowlands and Freehold Raceway for harness meets.
The wild card in negotiations is Atlantic City Race Course, which next year has been ordered by the New Jersey Racing Commission to offer 20 days of racing. Atlantic City officials have told The Blood-Horse they intend to continue racing after this year but need a portion of the supplement to offer longer meets.
There is some friction between Atlantic City and horsemen who want to see the Monmouth meet bolstered as much as possible.
Atlantic City this year will race six days, all on the turf, beginning April 23. The track gets all of its purse revenue from year-round simulcasts and an off-track betting parlor in Vineland. Last year, Atlantic City paid out more than $600,000 in purses for a four-day meet.
Earlier this year, before the casino deal became reality, Freehold Raceway cut purses, and the NJSEA added money to the purse account at Meadowlands to avoid cuts. The tracks in the state argue they need the money to supplement purses so they remain competitive with neighboring states in which purses are subsidized by gaming revenue.
“We applaud the governor for signing this bill,” Tom Luchento, president of the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey, said in an April 11 statement. “It is another step in the supplement process that will lead to the allocation of the funds to racing.”
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NEW JERSEY SENATE OKS PURSE SUBSIDY
ORR.com
Tom LaMarra is reporting in the Bloodhorse online that The New Jersey legislature has approved a deal whereby Atlantic City casinos will pay the horseracing and breeding industry $90 million over three years in return for a guarantee the tracks won’t pursue video lottery terminals during the period.
The state Senate voted 38-1 March 17 in favor of the measure, which also provides the casinos tax breaks on bets made for promotional purposes. On March 13, the state Assembly approved it by a 76-0 vote. Gov. Jon Corzine has said he will sign the legislation into law.
Still remaining are negotiations on how the $30 million a year will be spent by the Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries in New Jersey. From 2004-07, Thoroughbred and harness interests received a total of $84 million from casinos in the form of a purse subsidy.
Earlier this year, Freehold Raceway, a harness track, cut purses, and Meadowlands, which currently offers harness racing, was expected to do the same. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates Meadowlands and Monmouth Park, advanced some purse money to maintain daily payouts.
Freehold has increased purses 7%, and could hike them again in a few weeks, according to the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey.
“We will be sitting down with Sen. (Richard) Codey and Dennis Dowd of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to work on distribution of the funds, which will be split between the Standardbred and Thoroughbred industries,” SBOANJ president Tom Luchento said in a statement.
New Jersey’s live Thoroughbred season begins with six days of turf racing at Atlantic City Race Course April 23-25 and April 30-May 2. Last year, for four days of racing, Atlantic City paid an average of $153,585 per day in purses, according to The Jockey Club Information Systems.
The southern New Jersey track generates purse money through year-round full-card simulcasts, and in the past has transferred some purse money Monmouth. State regulators have told the track it must offer at least 20 days of racing in 2009, so it’s possible Atlantic City could share in the purse subsidy next year.
Monmouth, during its regular non-Breeders’ Cup meet in 2007, paid $366,774 per day in purses over 75 racing days. Meadowlands offered $292,735 in purses per day for its 41-day Thoroughbred meet last fall.
The casino subsidy is designed to keep purses competitive with those in neighboring states offered by racetracks with alternative gaming. Without it, there was talk Monmouth purses would drop to a daily average of about $200,000.
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JERSEY ASSEMBLY APPROVES PURSE SUBSIDY
ORR.com
Tom LaMarra is reporting in the Bloodhorse online that a plan to help New Jersey’s struggling horse racing industry while protecting casinos from video gambling machines at racetracks has cleared a hurdle in the state legislature.
The Assembly voted 76-0 March 13 to approve having Atlantic City casinos give $90 million over three years to support horse racing and breeding. In return, casinos get a guarantee the tracks won’t install video lottery terminals for at least three years.
The Senate is set to approve the bill March 17, and Gov. Jon Corzine supports it.
New Jersey has four racetracks: Freehold Raceway and Meadowlands, both of which are open now for harness racing; Atlantic City Race Course, which opens for a short Thoroughbred meet in late April; and Monmouth Park, whose Thoroughbred meet gets under way in May.
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MEET OPENS WIDE THIS TIME AROUND
By Matt Hegarty, Daily Racing Form
Atlantic City Race Course is no longer running in the dark.
For the first time in 10 years, the signal from Atlantic City's short all-turf meet will be broadcast to simulcast locations across the country when the track opens for live racing on Thursday. The opening-day card is the first of six cards spread out over the next three weeks.
Maureen Gallagher-Bugdon, the track's general manager, said Tuesday that the list of simulcast locations is not yet complete, but that the track's signal would be available "nationwide," though the races will not be available on major account-wagering platforms.
Owned by Greenwood Racing, Atlantic City Race Course continues to hold a short race meet every year because of state rules requiring racetracks to host live race days in order to remain open year-round as simulcasting facilities. The track's owners are also hoping that politicians in the state will drop their opposition to expanding casino-type gambling at racetracks.
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has formed a task force to study issues surrounding racing in the state, with the obvious subtext of determining whether the state should expand slot machines beyond the politically powerful casinos in Atlantic City. Atlantic City Race Course does not have a seat on the task force, although the racing industry is represented by the state-owned tracks of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.
Atlantic City will run live this year every Thursday and Friday for three consecutive weeks, ending May 1, the day before the Kentucky Derby. First post will be 3:30 p.m. every day.
According to the New Jersey Racing Commission, the total handle for six racing days last year was $807,932, a figure that will likely be exceeded this year with betting available at places other than the racetrack itself.
Gallagher-Bugdon said that she expects the track's signal to attract a large amount of interest in the out-of-state market, considering the races are all run on turf and have typically drawn large fields. The opening-day seven-race card, for example, has 71 entries for the seven races, and Friday's card has 72 entries for six races.
"We have the highest average fields in the country, and we believe we'll remain there this year," she said. "We're in the live racing business, and we expect that to continue."
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WILD GAMS NAMED 2008 NEW JERSEY-BRED HORSE OF THE YEAR
NJ Breds.com
New Farm’s Wild Gams, a multiple stakes races last year, has been named New Jersey-bred Horse of the Year for 2008. Wild Gams also garnered honors as champion handicap mare.
Bred in New Jersey by her owner, Wild Gams captured the $250,000 My Juliet Stakes at Philadelphia Park and set a track record in winning the $400,000 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes. The daughter of Forest Wildcat lost by a neck in the First Flight Handicap (G. II) at Belmont and a head in the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G. III) at Keeneland. Trained by Ben Perkins, Jr., Wild Gams finished her career as the fourth highest earning New Jersey-bred of all time with a bankroll of $1,198,486.
John Petrini’s Love That Dance was named the champion two-year-old filly after capturing three of her six starts including the $60,000 filly division of the Jersey Juvenile Stakes. A daughter of Not for Love, Love That Dance was bred in New Jersey by her owner and is trained by Ben Perkins, Jr.
Golden Dome Stable’s A Dynamite Time was named champion two-year-old colt or gelding after winning two of his three starts including the $60,000 colt division of the Jersey Juvenile Stakes. Bred by his owner, A Dynamite Time is by leading New Jersey sire Defrere out of the Gilded Time mare Heckuva Time. The two-year-old champion is trained by Mark Shuman.
Nistle’s Crunch was named champion three-year-old colt or gelding and champion turf runner after winning three of his ten starts including the Commonwealth Turf Stakes (G.III) at Churchill Downs. The son of Van Nistelrooy hit the board in three other graded stakes in 2008 en route to earnings of $308,929. Bred and owned by Alien Farm LLC, Nistle’s Crunch is trained by Kenneth McPeek.
Paradise Tonight was named champion three-year-old filly after a season that saw her finish first or second in six of her eight starts with earnings of $181,960. The daughter of Slew Gin Fizz broke her maiden in June and became a stake winner on September 20th when she won the $75,000 Jersey Girl Handicap at Monmouth Park. Paradise Tonight was bred by Joseph H. Pierce, Jr and is owned by James Wark, Frank Anfuso and Joseph H. Pierce, Jr. She is trained by Joseph H. Pierce, Jr.
John Petrini’s Joey P. captured sprinter of the year after winning two stake races and finishing second in four others. The seven-year-old son of Close Up won the John J. Reilly Handicap at Monmouth Park and the $200,000 Charlestown Dash Stakes at Charlestown. Joey P. also finished second in the Decathlon Stakes, Mr. Prospector Stakes, Teddy Drone Stakes and the Icecapade stakes. Trained by Ben Perkins, Jr., Joey P. has career earnings of $936,918.
Cuba, an eight-year-old horse by Not For Love, was named champion handicap horse after winning seven of his twelve starts in 2008. Cuba was claimed for $18,000 at Gulfstream Park on February 6 and went on to win six starts including two stake races for owners Leo-Sag Stable, Corrigan & Levesque. Cuba captured the $100,000 Charles J Hesse, III Handicap at Monmouth Park and the $279,000 Maryland Million Classic Stakes at Laurel. Trained by Bobby Dibona, Cuba was bred in New Jersey by Shaunlee, LLC. He earned $393,180 in 2008.
Heckuva Time, a daughter of Gilded Time-D’Accordress, by D’Accord is the 2008 recipient of the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association of New Jersey Broodmare of the Year award. Heckuva Time has produced six foals, five of which have raced. Her top two foals to date are the multiple stakes winner Heckuva Good Time and the 2008 champion two-year-old colt or gelding, A Dynamite Time.
Heckuva Good Time has won 5 races including a pair of 2008 stakes races, the Open Mind Stakes at Monmouth Park and the Witches Brew Stakes at the Meadowlands. The daughter of Afternoon Deelites has earnings of $219,663.
Defrere has been named the 2008 New Jersey Stallion of the Year. A dark bay or brown colt by Deputy Minister-Sister Dot, by Secretariat, Defrere has sired 34 stakes horses in his career. Defrere is the sire of 2008 stakes winners A Dynamite Time ($74,000), Open Skies ($163,705), and My Three Sisters ($313,427).
Defrere stands at Walnford Stud in Allentown, New Jersey.
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JERSEY GOVERNOR FORMS RACING STUDY PANEL
ORR.com
Tom LaMarra is reporting in the Bloodhorse online that New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed an executive order March 5 creating a commission to study the state’s horse racing industry and develop solutions for its long-term viability. The casino industry, which for years has subsidized horse racing in the state, will be involved in preparing the blueprint.
The 15-member commission is charged with finding solutions for racing after 2010, when the latest casino subsidy expires. Its report is due to the governor by July 1, 2010.
“The horse racing industry plays an important role in New Jersey, from preserving open space to attracting visitors to our state,” Corzine said in a statement. “I have named representatives from the horse racing and casino industries to this commission because it is essential for the gaming industry to work together to find a long-term funding solution that will allow both racing and casino gaming to thrive in New Jersey.”
Formation of a study group was part of the three-year gaming subsidy agreement that took effect in 2008. Lawmakers with racetracks and breeding farms in their districts last year called on Corzine to create the commission as soon as possible.
The commission members are chairman Robert Bildner, who heads a food distribution company; Jordan Glatt, mayor of the city of Summit; Tom Luchento, president of the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey; Dennis Drazin, president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association; Mark Juliano of Trump Hotels and Casinos; and David Satz of Harrah’s Entertainment.
In addition, there are five executives from state government: Dennis Robinson, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates Meadowlands and Monmouth Park; Thomas Carver,executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority; state Treasurer David Rousseau; Jerry Zaro, chief of the Office of Economic Growth; and Caren Franzini, executive director of the Economic Development Authority.
Finally, the Senate President will appoint one member of the Senate and one member of the public, while the Speaker of the General Assembly will appoint one member of the Assembly and one member of the public.
The state's two privately owned racetracks--Atlantic City Race Course and Freehold Raceway--aren't represented on the commission. They are owned by Pennsylvania-based gaming companies and have been involved in disputes over casino purse subsidies.
The governor’s executive order notes the horse racing industry employs 3,820 people, generates $31 million in taxes and fees for the state, and promotes about 176,000 acres of green space.
It also states the racing and gaming industries in the state have experienced reductions in revenue, and the purse agreements between racetracks and casinos “were not designed to address the long-term viability of the horse racing industry.”
Thoroughbred racing in New Jersey begins April 16 at Atlantic City and moves to Monmouth in early May. Harness racing began in January at Freehold and Meadowlands.
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