Harness: Business – breeding and racing – should be booming in the Garden State

With the passing of the purse appropriation by the legislature, once again New Jersey will be competitive with neighboring states. Already purses have been raised at The Meadowlands and the entire New Jersey racing program will receive a purse increase of approximately 75%, meaning New Jersey Sire Stakes-eligible colts and fillies will be racing for an estimated $3.5 million. That’s a far cry from the anemic amounts of the not too distant past and should result in additional stallion and mare locations at the still existing Garden State horse farms.

At present, 15 stallions reside in the State according to the New Jersey Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association. They include pacers Caution Signs, Great Vintage, High Stakes Hanover, Keystone Velocity, Lazarus N, Lis Mara, Mysterious Moment, Nutcracker Sweet and Sunfire Blue Chip. The trotting stallions feature Muscle Hill, Northern Kid, Rock Of Cashel, Tactical Landing, Trixton, and Walner.

Of those, Great Vintage, Lazarus N, Lis Mara, Sunfire Blue Chip, Muscle Hill, Tactical Landing, Trixton and Walner were advertised in the Horseman’s authoritative Breeders Book and will likely attract the most mares.

Muscle Hill, considered the best trotting stallion in the world, will be ultimately be competing with what is generally considered his two best sons in Hambletonian winner Trixton and last year’s late-season sensation Tactical Landing. In addition, his coming-of-age daughters will cross superbly with the world’s fastest 2-year-old Walner, he by the exceptional Chapter Seven from Random Destiny by Ken Warkentin.

In that Walner has no Muscle Hill or Muscles Yankee blood, he will undoubtedly attract a number of mares by those great stallions.

Trixton’s first crop dominated the Jersey program last year as the Muscle Hill-Emily Cas El son led all first-crop trotting sires in 2-year-old earnings and finished third behind Muscle Hill and Chapter Seven in 2-year-old earnings for established trotting sires. In that the 2-year-old Muscle Hill colts and fillies are Pennsylvania eligible, Trixton will have primarily the 3-year-old Father Patrick’s as major state-bred competitors. Of these, Muscle Hill, Walner and Tactical Landing stand at Southwind Farms while Trixton resides at Deo Volente.

On the New Jersey pacing stallion side, the New Zealand import Lazarus N is the is the big newcomer, though the other boys figure to draw a few more mares given Sire Stakes increases. Last year Lis Mara bred nine mares, Great Vintage eight and Sunfire Blue Chip two, though it should be noted that the latter two both raced in 2018.

At this moment, just three stallion shares remain available for purchase in Lazarus N and a look at his initial book discloses some significant mares including Wordly Beauty, Rocklamation, Odds On Stephanie (a full sister to Captain Treacherous), Artstopper (the dam of Always B Miki) and West Side Glory (the dam of See You At Peelers). Thus, the heralded greatest import since Cardigan Bay will indeed have his “opportunities”.

In addition, the New Jersey Standardbred breeders and owners association confirms that there will be stud fee rebates to existing New Jersey pacing stallions. There will also be Breeder Awards.

Mike Gulotta, Treasurer of the SBOANJ as well as a trustee appointed by the Governor to the New Jersey Sire Stakes Board of Trustees stated, “Starting in 2019, breeders of horses sired or bred in New Jersey will be awarded a purse bonus when horses that they bred earn purses in the New Jersey Sire Stakes, the Standardbred Development Fund races, and other Jersey-restricted races. This is likely to generate new interest in breeding to New Jersey sires. Additionally, 6% of the $10M purse appropriation allocated to standardbreds annually, or $600,000, will be used to fund purse bonuses to owners of New Jersey-sired horses racing in condition races in the state starting this year. This program also will fuel interest in New Jersey-sired horses come sale time this fall.”

To add to the excitement that the purse appropriation has created, one cannot lose sight of the fact that a portion of sports betting revenues is also being added to overnight purses at The Meadowlands based on a negotiated agreement between the SBOANJ and track management. A similar agreement is expected to be negotiated with Freehold Raceway.

So, higher purses at The Meadowlands and at Freehold along with a new breeders program, a stud fee rebate program and purse bonuses to owners of New Jersey-sired horses, along with the addition of new exciting stallions in the Garden State, have indeed created excitement and will usher in a renaissance for standardbred racing in the state.

New Jersey is back in business.