“This is a great way to expand Haskell Day into Haskell Weekend and provide our fans with an amazing racing experience for three straight days,” said Monmouth Park director of racing and racing secretary John Heims. “While Haskell Day is already circled on many conditioners' calendars, this new bonus will hopefully attract more of the nation's top Thoroughbreds to the Jersey Shore this summer.”

The $150,000 in total bonuses will be awarded as follows:  $75,000 (1st); $25,000 (2nd); $20,000 (3rd); $10,000 (4th); $7,500 (5th); and $2,500 (6th-10th).

With over $4 million in purses for the three days, the Haskell Weekend Trainer Challenge will feature eight stakes races: the July 19 Jersey Shore S.; July 20 Haskell, GII United Nations S., GIII Molly Pitcher S., GIII Monmouth Cup, GIII WinStar Matchmaker S., and Wolf Hill S.; as well as the July 21 Regret S.

Points will be awarded based on the race, led by 25 points to the winner of the Haskell, 20 to the runner-up, 15 to third-place finisher, 10 to fourth-place finisher and seven for fifth to last-place finishers.

For all other graded races, points will be awarded to first through last finishers: 18, 15, 10, 8, and 5. All other stakes will offer points of: 12, 9, 7, 5, 4.

Maiden special weights, allowances and handicaps will offer points of: 8, 6, 4, 2 and all other races will offer points of: 5, 3, 2, 1.

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First presented in 2012, the Handleman Award honors distinguished media coverage of the $1 million, Grade 1 Haskell, Monmouth Park's showcase race. It is presented annually prior to the Haskell.

Shifman, a retired teacher, joined Horse Racing Nation in 2011, using Monmouth Park as his home base and serving as the web site's correspondent for the track. The Metuchen, N.J., resident, a graduate of Case Western Reserve who holds a Master's degree in education from Rutgers, also co-hosts the popular weekly video show HorseCenter.

“We're pleased to formally recognize Matt's long-running association with Monmouth Park and his continued exemplary coverage of the Haskell Stakes with this year's Handleman Award,” said John. F. Heims, Monmouth Park's Director of Racing and Racing Secretary.

The award honors the late Bill Handleman, one of New Jersey's preeminent sportswriters for nearly three decades for the Asbury Park Press. Handleman, a fixture at Monmouth Park and a passionate chronicler of the sport, died in June of 2010 at the age of 62.

The first recipient of the Handleman Award was Tom Luicci of The Star-Ledger, followed by Steve Edelson of The Asbury Park Press in 2013, Dave Johnson of Sirius XM in 2014, Ed McNamara of Newsday in 2015, Bob Ehalt of ESPN.com and Bloodhorse in 2016, Tom Cassidy of TVG.com in 2017, Jim Dunleavy of Daily Racing Form in 2018, Mike Farrell of The Associated Press in 2019 and Steve Byk of the daily “At The Races With Steve Byk” radio show last year.

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“Medina Spirit's not coming,” Heims told the APP. “The race just comes up too quickly.”

The Haskell is a “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Classic this fall at Del Mar.

Medina Spirit has only breezed once since the May 15 Preakness, a three-furlong move at Santa Anita in 37.60 seconds on June 14.

The Protonico colt's Derby win is in jeopardy due to a positive post-race test result for betamethasone, a therapeutic medication that is not allowed on race day. Baffert and his attorney have claimed the positive is a result of a topical cream used to treat a case of dermatitis on the colt's hindquarters. Though the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has not yet held a hearing, required to disqualify Medina Spirit, but Baffert and his attorney have already filed suit against the commission asking a judge to grant further testing of the post-race samples.

Read more at the Asbury Park Press.

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We will need a bigger sample size before being able to fully evaluate how Monmouth's experiment with whip-free racing has fared. But this much is certain: Three days in and after hysterical fomenting from the pro-whip side of the argument, the whip-less races amounted to a big nothingburger. That is to say there were no incidents, no major form reversals, no mass boycotts from the horseplayers, etc. Perhaps this was just round one in what figures to be a long, drawn-out battle that will eventually extend beyond Monmouth Park, but the anti-whippers have broken sharply from the gate and assumed a clear lead down the backstretch, all under hand urging.

Other thoughts:

(*) Handle-wise, Monmouth did not get off to a good start, but that was to be expected because of the rain, the slop, scratches and the lack of grass racing. On Sunday, the handle was $2,645,700 over 11 races, off considerably from the $3,924,465 they bet on the same day in 2019 when there were 12 races. On Saturday, they bet $2,941,677 over 12 races. On the same day in 2019, the handle was $5,891,308 for 13 races. (There were no races held over the Memorial Day weekend because of the COVID-19 shut down.)

That could mean that some bettors were reluctant to play races where no whipping was allowed, but it's more likely that the horrendous weather cost Monmouth any chance of having a good handle. If the sun shines next weekend, that would provide a clearer pictures vis a vis the handle and the whip ban's impact.

(*) Some had predicted that some owners and trainers would refuse to run at Monmouth because of the whip ban. That simply wasn't the case. You don't attract 107 entries for a 12-race card, like they did Saturday, if people are staying away. When asked if the whipping rules were having any impact on field size, racing secretary John Heims said of the Saturday card: “It's not a factor and it wasn't a factor for Friday's card either.”

(*) If whipping isn't OK in Thoroughbred racing in New Jersey, why is it OK in harness racing? After all, the whip ban was meant to address perceptions that horse racing is cruel to the animal. Harness drivers are very limited so far as what they can do with the whip and can no longer raise their arms above their shoulders and whack the horse. Still, if whips can't be tolerated at Monmouth then they shouldn't be tolerated at the Meadowlands.

(*) There's no doubt that other state racing commissions are watching the Monmouth races intently. If the entire meet goes as well as the first weekend did, expect other states to fall in line with whip bans of their own. Next up will almost certainly be California. In a 2020 interview with the TDN, here's what the California Horse Racing Board Executive Director had to say: “I don't think jockeys should carry crops. It's not necessary. To me, it's not a safety issue. Ten years from now, if jockeys are still carrying riding crops, we've taken a wrong turn somewhere. This is a national issue and I think eventually everybody will be on board.”

(*) Some predicted that the whip ban would favor frontrunners because closers couldn't be urged on by their riders with their whips. That didn't happen. With races being run over a very sloppy surface Sunday, speed horse did seem to have an advantage. But on Friday, when the surface was fast for the first race, the track was kind to off-the-pace horses. The winner of the first race closed from last and the winner of the second race was fifth out of six early. Both were running in the middle of the track in the stretch.

(*) The races were very formful. Over the three days, 15 of the 28 races were won by the favorite, for a strike rate of 53.6%. The entire time, only one horse paid more than $20. While that obviously had something to do with the small fields, it was also pretty strong evidence that a whip ban does not lead to strange results.

(*) Will the whip ban cause a reshuffling of the deck when it comes to the jockeys? Riders who rely more on their finesse and smarts rather than brute strength should do better. It's worth noting that Dylan Davis (3-for-8, 38%) got off to a big start. Riding for many of the top New York outfits, like Chad Brown, Davis could have a huge meet. These were Davis's first mounts since a Mar. 20 spill.

(*) While there were no serious incidents on the racetrack, there was at least one example where the lack of a whip could have caused a difference. In Saturday's sixth race, Charge Account (Take Charge Indy) clearly pulled herself up before the wire. But she was so far in front that it didn't matter. She won by 7 1/4 lengths. But what if she had done the same while battling another to the wire and lost? If he was able to use a whip, could jockey Nik Juarez have gotten the filly to get her mind back on business?

(*) It was interesting to see that so many riders declined to carry the whip, which is still allowed for safety purposes. Those jockeys clearly didn't want to take any chance that they'd revert to old habits and hit the horse, not when doing so would result in a $500 fine and a five-day suspension. It changed over the weekend and by Sunday, the majority of riders were carrying the whip. But, from a perception standpoint, the damage had already been done. If whips are so necessary for safety reasons, how can it be that so many riders chose not to use one when one was available to them?

(*) After all their fussing and saber-rattling, the Monmouth jockeys showed that they're not a unified group. Only two jockeys–Joe Bravo and Antonio Gallardo–declined to ride. It will be interesting to see if either Bravo or Gallardo have a change of heart and return.

(*) Yes, this was a difficult, volatile situation, but Monmouth's threats of suing jockeys and banning anyone who refused to ride, were, to say the least, over the top.

(*) Jockey Christian Navarro won with his first two mounts on Friday. It marked the first time he had ridden since July 26, 2019, when he rode at Camarero in Puerto Rico.

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“We are happy with the way things have worked out,” racing secretary John Heims said. “We have some really good races for Saturday. It is a very nice card.”

When asked if the absence of some of the regular jockeys was making it harder to fill entries, Heims said: “It's not a factor and it wasn't a factor for Friday's card either. I read a lot of what was written and one thing that bothered me was somebody writing that we had to scrounge up these riders. We didn't scrounge up anybody. That's not fair to the guys who wanted to ride and feel comfortable doing so.”

The jockey colony for Saturday will include some notable names who are not scheduled to ride Friday. Ferrin Peterson, second leading rider last year, has four mounts and Nik Juarez, seventh in the standings in 2020 will ride four. Both will sit out Friday's card because they were serving suspensions. Hector Diaz Jr., last year's fifth leading rider, will also join the colony after accepting mounts for Friday at Belmont. Seven of the top 12 riders in 2020 will ride Saturday, the notable exceptions being Joe Bravo and Antonio Gallarado. Leading rider Paco Lopez will also be missing, but will be honoring previous commitments he made to trainers to ride this weekend at Gulfstream Park.

The pool of available riders Saturday also includes New York regular Dylan Davis, who will be riding for, among others, Chad Brown. He has seven mounts. Davis was sidelined earlier this year when breaking his clavicle in a spill and has not ridden since March 20.

While there will be one six-horse field Saturday, there is also a 16-horse race, an 12-horse race and an 11-horse race. Heims said he could have attracted even more horses, but decided to only card four grass races because of the threat of rain Saturday.

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According to bloodhorse.com, Monmouth has threatened that jockeys who refuse mounts on Friday will not be allowed to ride at the track for the remainder of the 2021 meet.

“We are having a problem with guys who have been on the backstretch all monthlong working horses and have calls and are now they are saying they won't ride Friday but they will ride Saturday,” John Heims, director of racing and racing secretary at Monmouth, told bloodhorse.com. “We are not going to let people stick it to us and cost us money by canceling racing. If you feel unsafe Friday, how are you safe Saturday? If it's unsafe and you don't want to ride, I get it. No one is asking you to do something you are uncomfortable doing. The rule is not changing, so if you will not ride Friday since you believe it's unsafe, why would you ride any other day?”

Entries for Friday's card close Tuesday. Heim said he has 12 jockeys lined up to ride Friday, and that a trio of jockeys serving suspensions through Friday (Paco Lopez, Nik Juarez, and Ferrin Peterson) will not be affected by the ban.

Read more at bloodhorse.com.

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It just worked out that the first two vans to enter the backstretch shortly after 6 a.m. ET  were each transporting four of Spina's horses, officially starting the countdown to Monmouth Park's 76th season. The 53-day meet gets under way with four straight days of live racing over the Memorial Day weekend from May 28-31. The meet will run through Sept. 26.

“I'm not always the first to get here but I'm usually among the first,” said the 72-year-old Spina, who has a short commute to the track from his home in Monmouth Beach. “I'm excited to be back. I don't go to Florida over the winter. We freshen up our horses. So I'm anxious to get back and get going.”

Bridge to Brooklyn was the first horse led off the van by Spina and quickly settled into Barn 14, which has been the veteran conditioner's base of operations at Monmouth Park for the past 30 years.

The surrounding barns will fill up shortly, with demand for stall space this year as high as it has been in recent memory, according to John Heims, Monmouth Park's director of racing and racing secretary.

“The response from the horsemen for stall space has been outstanding,” said Heims. “We're oversubscribed for the first time in quite some time, and it's a great position to be in. We'll do all we can to accommodate as many horsemen as we can, who in turn will allow us to put on a tremendous racing product for our fans all summer long.

“There's a buzz about getting back to Monmouth Park and the reality is we can't wait to get started.”

New Jersey native Kelly Breen, who won his third Monmouth Park training title last summer, will be eying a repeat with another strong contingent. Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, coming off a successful first season at Monmouth Park a year ago, is also back with a wide-ranging group of runners, as is Chad Brown.

Star power will be in abundance in the backstretch, with Todd Pletcher sending a string that will have both quality and quantity. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen will have a formidable presence for the first time, as will Saffie Joseph, Jr. All three will have full barns.

Monmouth will feature 46 stakes overall (10 graded) worth $6.15 million, as well as another strong New Jersey-bred program.

The centerpiece of the meet is the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes on July 17. Authentic won the Haskell a year ago before going on to capture the Kentucky Derby.

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Cibelli said she was notified of the decision by John Heims, Monmouth Park's racing secretary and director of racing.

“Heims told me, 'I'm tired of it, you always want things your way,'” Cibelli said. “I told him, 'That's what I get paid to do to survive. I'm looking out for my owners' best interests.”

“I won't deny I said that,” Heims said. “Overall, her conduct is not necessarily conducive to the atmosphere we want here at Monmouth Park. It's a lot to take and not worth the aggravation. It's too much.”

Cibelli said she was once “ambushed” by Heims and Monmouth Park general manager Bill Anderson over shipping horses from her stable at Monmouth to race at other tracks.

“They said, 'You ship a lot.' I asked them which horses and they said they didn't know. I told them I hadn't shipped any horses that Monmouth had races for. I had 40 horses and 30 of them are turf. Monmouth has 12 races a week on turf. When my horses are ready to run, I want to run them. The majority of my horses have run at Monmouth.”

Cibelli admits to be “a little testy” and a review of rulings against her shows that she has been fined for behavioral issues and altercations with other licensees. In 2020, she said, she had additional stress and fatigue while undergoing what she called “triple dose chemo” that began in Tampa, Fla., and continued in New Jersey to treat ovarian cancer. For now, she says, she is cancer free.

“I made an effort to support the Monmouth meet in 2020 after so many bailed because of COVID,” she added.

Cibelli ranked in a tie for sixth in the 2020 trainer standings at Monmouth with 12 wins from 48 starters. The previous year she was eighth, winning 14 races in 66 starts.

“At first I was upset (about being denied stalls),” Cibelli said. “A couple of owners told me to call Bill Anderson. I said, 'I'm just not doing it. I've spent my whole life in this business, I'm almost 60 years old, and I'm not going to beg for stalls.'”

Cibelli said she was also going up against a culture at Monmouth Park that was “always a bit of an old boys' club.”

The track had no problem, for example, allocating stalls for 2018 to then leading trainer Jorge Navarro after he was fined $10,000 for conduct detrimental to racing when caught on a September 2017 video while watching a simulcast race from Gulfstream Park with owner Randal Gindi.  Navarro's brother had just won the race and Gindi said, “That's the juice. That's the vegetable juice.” Navarro responded: “We f – – k everyone.” Gindi replied “We f – – k everyone and I line my pockets with the bookie with another $20,000. Oh yeah, life is great.”

Navarro, along with another Monmouth Park mainstay, Jason Servis, was indicted in March 2020 in connection with an FBI probe into doping of racehorses. Some of the incidents described in the federal indictment took place at Monmouth.

“I might lose a couple of owners by not going back to Monmouth Park,” Cibelli said, “but when one door shuts another one opens.”

She indicated she will likely maintain her stable at Palm Meadows in South Florida for the time being, race at Gulfstream Park, and then look to summer meets at other mid-Atlantic tracks including Colonial Downs, Laurel Park and Delaware Park.

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The vote was unanimous but not without misgivings, as several commissioners voiced concerns prior to the vote that fixed-odds betting would cannibalize the existing pari-mutuel system and eventually erode New Jersey’s racing industry.

And one New Jersey Racing Commission (NJRC) member had to be corrected just prior to the vote because he thought the board had been discussing exchange wagering and not fixed-odds betting (It was unclear who, because commissioners often cross-talked and did not identify themselves when speaking during Wednesday’s teleconference meeting).

But the fact that the current bill, introduced Oct. 31, seems to have considerable political heft behind it appeared to be an overriding factor in the unanimous vote, as the presumed wishes of elected and appointed officials surfaced several times during the discussion.

“The pilot program would be regulated by the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE),” explained Judith Nason, the NJRC’s executive director. “DGE has the authority to regulate fixed-odds wagers, which [are] also known as sports wagers.

“So, the question before you today is whether the commission wants to grant its consent to fixed-odds wagers [on] Grade I stakes races of national interest that are being conducted in another state through Dec. 31, 2021, which would allow the pilot program to move forward,” Nason continued. “It would allow the attempt to gauge interest [in] fixed-odds wagers on horse racing. At the same time, there is proposed legislation that is moving forward that would broadly allow fixed-odds wagers on horse races.”

Asked by a commissioner what the benefit of the pilot program would be to New Jersey’s horse racing, Nason replied, “It would bring benefits to the sports wagering operators, and to a certain extent to, you know, that the revenue can be shared and some of it can be directed for purse money.”

Dennis Drazin, the chairman and chief executive of Darby Development LLC, which operates Monmouth Park and its sports book, weighed in with a different perspective.

“I think it’s commendable that we start with a pilot program until such time as the legislature has an opportunity [to vote on it] and the governor signs off, assuming we get to that point,” Drazin said.

“We’ve been hung up for six months on whether or not a wager on a horse race is s sports bet or a horse racing bet, because they’re handled differently. The proposed legislation says it’s a horse racing bet,” Drazin said.

“I gather that the attorney general, if I read Judy [Nason] correctly, has weighed in and feels that we should start with the pilot program for Grade I races only,” Drazin said.

Commissioner Michael Arnone expressed doubts about the long-term repercussions of fixed-odds betting prior to casting a “yes” vote in line with the other commissioners.

“I get the feeling like we’re the good monsignor getting called up to give last rites to the pari-mutuel system. I mean, I think the pari-mutuel system will lose out in the end if it has to compete,” Arnone said. “We’ll see what happens, but unfortunately, I’ve got a very negative view of it.”

Drazin said his support for trying the system is based partially on repeated complaints he hears from pari-mutuel customers about fluctuations in odds after a race goes off.

“The Australian [fixed odds] model has proven to grow their industry. And with a significantly less population in Australia than we have here, they out-handle us,” Drazin said. “I think it’s important that we look at this. Nobody knows what the future is going to be…In the early days, it will have a minimal impact [on pari-mutuels]. But five years down the road, a significant portion of the handle will be fixed odds.”

Prior to the unanimous vote, Drazin had asked the NJRC to widen to scope of the pilot program to include all graded North American stakes races, graded international races, and Monmouth’s two in-state Grade Is, the Haskell S. and United Nations S.

But Nason wouldn’t allow those modifications to the template for the pilot program, which had been handed down by the DGE. That leaves New Jersey’s bet-taking licensees with about 90 to 95 Thoroughbred races on which to offer fixed-odds wagering in 2021.

Based on Drazin’s comments, Monmouth appears set to embrace the pilot system. When asked by the commission, a Meadowlands official declined the opportunity to comment on the program.

“Lastly, I would ask you to just consider what you’re going to do if one track–and I’ll just give you an example, let’s say Churchill Downs–decides they’re going to authorize fixed odds on the [GI] Kentucky Derby, but they’re not going to give it to anybody else except to [the] Churchill [advance-deposit wagering system that] operates online in New Jersey. Do you think that that would have a negative impact on the rest of us?”

Thoroughbred Dates Approved for 2021

Also on Wednesday, the NJRC unanimously approved 2021 Thoroughbred dates at Monmouth (53 days, May 28-Sept. 26) and for a turf-only meet at the Meadowlands (nine days, Oct. 1-30).

John Heims, Monmouth’s racing secretary and director of racing, said that the track is going back to “more of a traditional” Memorial Day weekend opening like in past seasons. That calendar, he added, allows Monmouth to better dovetail with the closing meets at Oaklawn Park and Tampa Bay Downs, “so I think it actually bolsters out ability to offer a better racing product.”

In 2020, the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association had approval to run 56 days at Monmouth and 19 at the Meadowlands. But the pandemic lopped off the start of the Monmouth meet and caused the cancellation of what was supposed to be the first dual-surface Thoroughbred meet at the Meadowlands since 2009. Those dates were transferred to Monmouth instead, where a total of 60 programs were run this year.

The topic of running both dirt and turf races at the Meadowlands in 2021 did not come up at Wednesday’s meeting.

Monmouth Reports $2.5 Million-plus Racing Loss

A separate section of the agenda dealt with the distribution of monies from the Casino Simulcasting Special Fund, which requires New Jersey racetracks to show evidence that their financial well-being has been negatively affected by casino simulcasting and/or that the racetrack is “financially distressed” in order to receive those funds.

During that agenda item, Nason said all three state tracks (Monmouth, Meadowlands, Freehold Raceway) met those requirements. Although a specific time frame for the financials was not mentioned, Nason read into the record that “Monmouth Park reported losses in excess of $2.5 million from racing operations while also citing the [NJTHA’s] debt obligations to the [New Jersey] Sports and Exposition Authority, which exceed $9 million through 2024.”

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