All seats for Haskell Day at Monmouth sold out

Although Triple Crown winner American Pharoah’s next start is not yet etched in stone, East Coast race fans seem convinced that he will be Monmouth Park-bound for the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on Sunday, Aug. 2.

Reserved seating for Haskell Day is completely sold out, according to track officials. Monmouth has approximately 13,000 seats, and while the track generally sells out for the Haskell, it is unprecedented for them to be spoken for this early in the season.

“All of our reserved seats sold out last Sunday – grandstand, clubhouse, and box seats,” said John Heims, the director of media relations at Monmouth Park. “It’s a record for us.”

The Haskell Invitational has a $1 million purse. The conditions of the race also include a bonus system tied to victories in Triple Crown races that will pay owner Ahmed Zayat and trainer Bob Baffert $75,000 each for running American Pharoah.

Baffert is the winningest trainer in Haskell history with seven victories since 2001. He won the race last year with Bayern. In 2012, Baffert and Zayat teamed up to win the Haskell with Paynter.

Although the New York Racing Association limited attendance to 90,000 on Belmont Stakes Day, Monmouth will keep its gates open.

“We discussed limiting attendance on Haskell Day, but it’s different for us than it was for the Belmont,” Heims said. “We have people buy seats only and then pay admission separately. You can’t have them show up and turn them away. Obviously, it’s a great position for us to be in.”

Although Belmont has a much larger grandstand than Monmouth, the Oceanport, N.J., track has a great deal of outdoor space. If American Pharoah comes for the Haskell, some estimates call for a crowd north of 60,000.

The attendance record at Monmouth is 53,638 on Haskell Day in 2003, when Peace Rules upset Funny Cide, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner who finished third.

“I think we could have handled more people that day,” Heims said. “If you go to the north end of our grandstand, there is a pretty humongous space there. We are talking about bringing in extra seating, dining, tents; we are making plans for additional parking. This is not our first rodeo. We have the Haskell crowds, and we’ve put on the Breeders’ Cup.”

Monmouth will have a walk-through of sorts on Sunday, as Father’s Day has become the second-most widely attended day of the meet. Last year’s Father’s Day attendance was more than 29,000.

“Whenever we have a big day, we walk through the crowd to see how things are going; what we could do better,” Heims said. “We’ll be doing that on Sunday.”