Cup to proceed at Monmouth

The Breeders' Cup has renewed its commitment to hold its 2007 championship event at Monmouth Park in New Jersey after a superior court judge accepted a settlement on Thursday between state regulators and horsemen, according to the Breeders' Cup president, D.G. Van Clief.

"I don't see any reason why we can't reinitiate the planning process," Van Clief said Friday. "The dispute is settled, and we can all move forward."

The settlement, accepted by Judge Alexander Lehrer of New Jersey Superior Court on Thursday, put an end to a long-running dispute between the New Jersey Racing Commission and New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association that escalated when the commission sued the horsemen late last year. Negotiations between the two parties to resolve the suit broke down last week, but Breeders' Cup compelled the organizations to return to the bargaining table by threatening to pull its support for the 2007 event if a resolution was not reached by April 9.

Breeders' Cup officials said that their policy was not to hold the event in any state in which litigation threatened relations between the state's horse racing groups.