New Jersey calendar for 2020 will see expansion of Thoroughbred racing at The Meadowlands

The New Jersey Racing Commission has approved 56 live race dates at Monmouth Park next year and up to 19 live Thoroughbred race dates at The Meadowlands, according to the head of the management company that operates Monmouth.

The approval of the dates represents a five-day reduction in live racing at Monmouth but an up to 12-day expansion of Thoroughbred race dates at The Meadowlands, a harness facility where Thoroughbred racing has been conducted briefly over the past seven years exclusively over its turf course. Dennis Drazin, the head of Monmouth’s operating company, said that plans so far call for the cards at the Meadowlands to include dirt races as well.

The Meadowlands schedule is still being hashed out between Drazin and Jeff Gural, the owner of The Meadowlands. The dates approved for the track run from Oct. 2 to Dec. 5, with racing scheduled for two nights a week, Drazin said. The two owners have agreed to share the costs of converting the harness surface to a Thoroughbred surface, and re-converting the track after the Thoroughbred cards have been run, Drazin said.

Next year will likely be the second year in which Thoroughbred horsemen and breeders in the state will receive a $10 million subsidy. The grant is subject to an annual review.

Drazin said that the expansion of racing at The Meadowlands will give New Jersey Thoroughbred racing greater visibility, considering The Meadowlands cards will be held at night. The Meadowlands is a short distance from New York City, and the track has become the number one destination in New Jersey for sports betting.

The Monmouth Park meet will be run along its traditional dates, opening on the day of the Kentucky Derby, May 2, and closing in late September. Racing will be initially conducted on a two-day per week schedule, expanded to three days a week in the summer, and then pared back to a two-day week in September, Drazin said.