Snatched from the jaws of oblivion, New Jersey’s landmark racetrack, Monmouth Park, will open its gates Saturday to launch its 67th meeting.
It just made it. A couple of months ago, no one would have bet a dime this day would come. But it is here, ready to showcase 12 races on a sweet, sunny spring afternoon, the start of a 65-day meet with prize money averaging $400,000 a day and the prospect of a whole new glittering future.
Call it The Miracle on the Shore.
For those of us who love thoroughbred racing, and Monmouth in particular for its gracious charm and sea breezes, its family aura and rich history, all we can say is: Thank the Lord.
No track in recent memory has undergone such a pathetic shakeout as Monmouth in the past couple of years. Long a ward of the state, it was cast adrift in 2010 by Gov. Chris Christie, who refused to subsidize its losses any longer with taxpayer funds.
His ultimatum to the N.J. Sports and Exposition Authority: get a buyer or shut it down.
The state took bids and eventually found a potential lifesaver in Morris Bailey, a real estate and casino entrepreneur, but after protracted heated negotiations, Bailey threw up his hands and walked away. Have you ever tried to do business with New Jersey’s political establishment?
Suddenly, Monmouth was on life support, a plug away from dead.
In February, the N.J. Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, led by John Forbes, a longtime leading Jersey trainer, stepped up with a proposal to lease the track and run it for five years. A fanciful notion. America never has had a track run by its horsemen.
Somehow, the seed took root. A group of warriors — Forbes, Dennis Drazin, a Jersey legal mover and shaker, Bob Kulina, a Monmouth racing legend, Ralph Marra, a Sports Authority tiger — wrestled behind doors for three months, arguing, pushing, thrashing, pulling, yelling and sweating to get a deal done with all parties, including 16 unions.
Incredibly, they pulled it off.
“The process broke down at least five or six times,” Forbes said the other day. “We were worried about saving this grand old lady.”
Drazin was blunter, “You don’t know how close we came to shutting down Monmouth Park.”
Too close for comfort. But today, it’s post time. And it’s only the beginning. The crew already is planning to transform the track into a glitzy resort destination with water park, hotel, restaurants, miniature golf course, boardwalk, concerts, movie theaters and retail stores.
They will take over the highly-successful off-track betting parlor in Woodbridge and build several more in different parts of the state, hopefully in business by January, 2014.
Said Drazin, “We will not only preserve Monmouth, we will improve it. Instead of losing money, we intend to make money. Gov. Christie has given us the opportunity to control our own destiny.”
Kulina said, “There’s a lot of energy here. Our fans are going to see a big change. We want to maintain our position behind New York and be the second option on the East Coast. We only got this track in February and already there has been an incredible turn around.”
Monmouth might finally be on the road to recovering stability and stature. The state ran it into the ground. The new management is desperate to revive it and the odds are in its favor with a go-getter like Drazin in charge.
At 60, he has an oar in every Jersey pond from horses to politics. He has energy, vision and a will to get things done. Most of all, he has a passion for horse racing.
Monmouth is off and running — in more ways than one.