Monmouth Park begins its 61st season of racing on Saturday. The picturesque
track will feature 91 days of racing through September 24. First race post time
is 12:50 p.m. (EDT).
Monmouth Park will host the 2007 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, and many
capital improvements have been made for the 2006 racing season, including the
main track, which was refurbished to have a new base and remixed cushion.
A major improvement will be showcased in the brand new turf course, which is scheduled to open on June 24. The new course — a seven-furlong oval with two chutes for nine-furlong and 5
1/2-furlong races — was designed by Australian turf specialist Ian Chivers,
working under the direction of Rutgers University’s Dr. Jim Murphy.
“Everything was engineered to promote drainage and plant growth and racing
safety,” said Horace (Smitty) Smith, assistant vice president of operations.
“The subsoil and topsoil were scientifically designed and the course drains
extremely well now. The turns are banked so the horses can negotiate them
safely.”
The turf course, built at a cost of $4.5 million, replaces the old grass
course built in 1950.
“Over the years, we worked on the old course every season, replacing sod in
different areas,” Smith said. “We probably resodded the entire course over the
years. But there was a big problem. The old course was built on clay, so it
never drained properly and the grass never rooted as well as it should.”
The first stakes race to be run on the new sod is the $150,000 Boiling
Springs S. (G3) on July 4. The second will be the $750,000 United Nations H.
(G1) on July 8. Before the turf course opens, Monmouth Park will offer three days of grass
racing at the Meadowlands on three consecutive Mondays — June 5, June 12 and
June 19.
Racing at the New Jersey shore will feature a record daily purse distribution
of $330,000 and a full roster of stakes races — 14 of them graded —
highlighted by the $1 million Haskell Invitational H. (G1) on August 6. Other important events include the $300,000 Molly Pitcher Breeders’ Cup S.
(G2) on August 27 and the $250,000 Philip H. Iselin Breeders’ Cup S. (G3) on
August 19.
The track will hold the fourth annual festival for New Jersey-breds on
September 16, with an entire card composed of state-bred races. The program
includes four stakes races, one with a $125,000 purse and three with $100,000
purses.
New faces at Monmouth Park this year include Eddie Plesa Jr., one of the
leading trainers at Calder, and Justin Nixon, who conditions a group of horses
owned by Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs Stable.
A pair of Eclipse Award-winning jockeys — Jorge Chavez and Eddie Castro —
will ride full-time at Monmouth Park.