Monmouth Park announces 56-day sked for 2020
King for a Day with Joe Bravo riding upset Maximum Security and Luis Saez to win the 2019 $150,000 tvg.com Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. Photo By Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO
Led by the Grade 1, $1 million TVG.com Haskell Invitational, Monmouth Park is set to offer $7.3 million in stakes races when the track kicks off its diamond anniversary season on Saturday, May 2.
This year’s 75th race meet will feature 63 total stakes, 12 graded events, and 11 stakes restricted to New Jersey-bred horses.
Last year’s Haskell Day program saw two champions in the winner’s circle with Maximum Security winning the main event and Midnight Bisou cruising under the line in the Molly Pitcher. That card will again feature six stakes races in 2020, two with a $100,000 purse boost, as the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup and the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher go to $300,000 and $250,000, respectively.
Other races getting a purse bump are the Grade 3 Iselin, now at $200,000, as well as the Miss Liberty, Jersey Derby and Jersey Shore, each to be contested for $100,000.
The 18th annual New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival, with three stakes events, will be renewed on Aug. 30, with the $100,000 Charles Hesse III Handicap headlining that card.
Monmouth Park’s MATCH Day will be Sept. 12 with five stakes totaling $500,000 playing their part in the Mid-Atlantic Championships.
Stall applications, which are due by March 15, are now available on-line at www.monmouthpark.com or in hard copy format in the Monmouth Park racing office.
LATEST NEW JERSEY NEWS
Off the Pace: Lane Luzzi hoping “you can go home again”
Jockey Lane Luzzi, who grew up in New York, will try to disprove the idea that you can’t go home again when he shifts his tack from Texas to Monmouth.
BackTracks: Missy’s Mirage “got the job done”
In a new BackTracks: NJ-bred Missy’s Mirage became one of trainer Allen Jerkens’ favorites, a gray filly who “got the job done.”
Equine fatalities declined in 2022
The incidence of equine fatalities nationally declined to its lowest level ever, according to new data released from the Equine Injury Database.
Monmouth stakes schedule unveiled for 2023
The 2023 Monmouth Park stakes schedule will include 48 races worth a combined total of nearly $8 million, headed by the Grade 1 Haskell.
Meadowlands cancels Saturday card
Due to a forecast calling for heavy rain, live racing has been canceled for Saturday, Oct. 1, for the all-turf Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet.
Vedareo impresses in Sorority romp
Vedareo bounced back from a rough outing at Saratoga to win easily in Monmouth Park’s Sorority Stakes Sunday.
