Monmouth Opens Sat

121 Horses Entered For Saturday's 12-Race Monmouth Opener
from Monmouth site

Monmouth Park opens this Saturday, May 10, with a 12-race program attracting a total of 121 entries.

Topping the day’s card is the $75,000 Decathlon Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward, which features a full field of 11, including graded stakes winner Candyman E and the likely favorite, Ribo Bobo, who won 10 of 11 starts last year and is two for three in 2014.

A six-furlong dash, the Decathlon is the first of this year’s stakes events, which includes 17 graded stakes. As always, the centerpiece of Monmouth’s summer season will be the $1 million William Hill Haskell Invitational, which has its 47th running on Sunday, July 27. Part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In, the Haskell will be televised live on NBC.
Monmouth’s Grade 1 turf race, the $500,000 United Nations Stakes, will be the highlight of the Fourth of July weekend when it’s renewed on Sunday, July 6. The U.N. will be televised live on Fox Sports 1, as part of the Jockey Club Tour on Fox.

Gates will open at 11:30 a.m. and first post is set for 12:50 p.m. every day except Haskell Day, when gates will open at 10:00 a.m. and first post will be 12 noon.

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Monmouth unveils new entertainment options while kicking off 69th racing season
Brisnet

As Monmouth Park prepares to usher in its 69th season of racing on Saturday, there's certainly plenty of "new" being added to the grand dame of the Jersey Shore.

Foremost among the new is a concert arena, to be located adjacent to the picnic area, with ground-breaking set to commence this summer. The 7,500-seat venue is slated for an opening in 2015.

"It's just yet another crowd-pleasing entertainment destination to complement the racetrack," said Dennis Drazin, advisor to the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and Darby Development LLC, operators of Monmouth Park. "We are continuing with a grand plan to make Monmouth Park a multi-faceted entertainment destination. This concert arena, coupled with plans for a new restaurant, is another step toward our long-term goals."

While ground-breaking for the new restaurant, located between the mini-golf course and the new concert venue, is set to begin in a matter of weeks, the doors for the new William Hill Race & Sports Bar are set to swing open this Saturday. Located on the first floor of the Grandstand, the state-of-the-art room features over 100 flat screen HD televisions, a 40-foot granite top bar as well as contest kiosks, where fans can make free sports plays for prizes.

And high-above all these new ground-level features will be Travis Stone, who takes the helm in the announcer's booth on opening day. Stone, currently the announcer at Louisiana Downs, replaces Larry Collmus, who had been at Monmouth the past 20 seasons.

A slew of fresh faces will meet-up with the Monmouth Park regulars, all to be greeted by a lucrative incentive program to complement the already rich stakes and daily purse distribution for the 57-day meet.

Among the new trainers calling the Monmouth Park backstretch their home this summer are David Jacobson, Wayne Catalano, Hugh McMahon, Christopher Grove and Team Gaudet.

Throughout the course of Monmouth's 2014 summer meet a trainer will receive a $300 bonus for every non-state-bred starter regardless of surface.

Additionally, owners will receive a minimum of $700 for every non-state-bred dirt starter and a minimum of $500 for every open turf runner.

New Jersey-breds will continue to be eligible for a 40 percent purse bonus when running against open company.

Over in the jockey's quarters, re-joining the Monmouth Park riding colony are Eddie Castro and Julian Pimentel. Castro, who last rode regularly at the Jersey Shore in 2010, was thrice runner-up in the standings (2007-9). A native of Panama, Castro is a two-time winner of Monmouth Park's United Nations Stakes, having piloted Presious Passion in 2008 and Teaks North in 2011.

Pimentel was last seen as a Monmouth regular back in 2004, finishing fifth in the standings. Having spent the better part of the last decade in Maryland, Pimentel returns to Monmouth, where he enjoyed stakes success in the Oceanport and Sapling.

The return of the Jersey Shore Six as well as new 50-cent trifectas will be featured on the wagering menu.

The Jersey Shore Six, which will encompass the final six races each day, has a base price of 10 cents. The only way to win the entire pool is to have the lone ticket with six winners that day.

If there is more than one ticket with all six winners, then all winning tickets will share 60 percent of the total betting pool each day. The other 40 percent of the day's pool will be carried over until the next racing day. The carryover will accumulate until the day there is just one winning pick six ticket.

On days when no ticket has six winners, payouts (based on 60 percent of the total pool) will be made to the tickets with the most winners that day.

Last year saw the debut of the Jersey Shore Six, which produced some hefty payouts, including one for $161,486.50 on July 6.

The 50-cent trifecta is new this year and allows for more "spreading" on one's ticket at a fraction of the old cost.

The leading contenders in the $75,000 Decathlon, the opening day feature for older horses going six furlongs, are Candyman E, who captured the Grade 3 Toboggan on February 1 in his second start off the claim by Jacobson, and Ribo Bobo, who has won 12 of his last 14 starts for Jason Servis, including the Icecapade over the Monmouth strip last September.

Monmouth Park's meet runs through September 28.


The new William Hill Race & Sports Bar at Monmouth Park (Bill Denver/Equi-PhotoT