Monmouth selling 500 tickets to the public for Haskell card

Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.Y., plans to sell 500 general-admission tickets for the track’s centerpiece race day, the July 18 Haskell Stakes card, the track said on Friday.

The 500 tickets, which will cost $100 a piece and will be only available online, will be the only tickets made available to the general public, Monmouth said. Although Monmouth is allowing several thousand spectators each racing day, the track’s top official, Dennis Drazin, said in a release that Monmouth has “obligations to our sponsors, horsemen, and season box holders” for the day, limiting the number of tickets available to the general public.

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The Haskell Stakes card has in the past attracted upward of 50,000 people. General-admission tickets this year will include admission, a Haskell hat, a program, and parking, the track said. The tickets will be made available beginning at noon tomorrow.

Monmouth Park opened last Friday, and all spectators at the track are required to participate in a health check at the gates and are also required to wear facemasks at all times except for when eating, drinking, or smoking. Still, pictures circulated last weekend of groups sitting in the Monmouth grandstand not wearing masks.

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In the announcement, Monmouth said that it may offer additional tickets should the state government issue any “revised executive orders which allow Monmouth Park to increase attendance capacity.” With COVID-19 cases surging once again in many states across the country, that appears increasingly unlikely.

The Grade 1 Haskell Stakes has a $1 million purse this year and will serve as a prep to the rescheduled Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5. The track has also announced that it will award a $1 million bonus to any horse that wins the Haskell, Derby, and Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 7.