New Jersey to race 77 Thoroughbred dates in 2013

Monmouth Park will run 61 dates next year and also conduct 10 days of all-turf night racing at the Meadowlands under a schedule approved by the New Jersey Racing Commission on Wednesday.

The commission approved a dates request by Monmouth to run the 61 dates at its seaside track from May 11 to Oct. 6. Monmouth also applied for the 10 dates at the Meadowlands running from Oct. 11 to Nov. 2, with racing limited to weekend nights on the Meadowlands turf.

Monmouth, which is leased and run by a company controlled by the state’s horsemen, ran Thoroughbred dates at the Meadowlands this year as part of an experiment. However, five of the 10 live racing dates had to be canceled because of weather conditions, including four days lost to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.

The commission also approved six days of live racing at Atlantic City Race Course, from April 25-28 and on April 30 and May 1.