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Cibelli Denied Stalls At Monmouth Park: ‘When One Door Shuts, Another One Opens’

Jane Cibelli, leading trainer at Monmouth Park in 2011 and '12, has been denied stalls at the Oceanport, N.J., track that has served as her stable's summer home since 2002.

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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New Jersey Fixed-Odds Pilot Program Cleared for 2021

Even as a separate bill to allow fixed-odds wagering on in-state horse races is making its way through the New Jersey Legislature, the state’s racing commission voted 4-0 Nov. 18 to give consent for licensees to try a fixed-odds pilot program during 2021 that would be limited to bets on out-of-state Grade I races.

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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Horologist Owner Barred From Monmouth For Remainder Of Meet, Questions Track’s Motives

For owner Cameron Beatty, the undercard of the Grade 1 Haskell on July 18 eventually proved to be a testament to the highs and lows horse racing can provide. Beatty, who races as There's a Chance Racing, was the lone representative at Monmouth Park that day for Horologist when she won the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher by a decisive two lengths. The filly's trainer, Bill Mott, is based out of Saratoga this time of year and NYRA's COVID-19 protocols don't permit anyone working on the backstretch to return to The Spa after traveling out of state. Mott and Beatty coordinated with a local assistant trainer to saddle the filly and provide a groom to care for her for the day. When that assistant waved Beatty into the winner's circle, Beatty didn't think too much of it.

“After the race, obviously we were all going crazy,” said Beatty. “He told me to grab my filly and take her in the winner's circle. With me, the horse, and Joe Bravo that was two people so we thought everything was fine.”

Now, Monmouth Park representatives have told Beatty he has violated the track's COVID-19 protocols and will be banned from the property for the remainder of 2020.

After his filly's big win, Beatty got a letter after the race asking him to call racing secretary John Heims.

“[John Heims] was saying I put racing in New Jersey at risk, and I was extremely selfish for doing that,” Beatty recalled. “He also said the owner of Authentic was extremely upset because he was there and he wasn't allowed to go into the winner's circle. I apologized for all of that. I didn't intend for any of that to happen … I really didn't know that I wasn't allowed to go in, or I would have never gone in.”

According to documents published on its website, the winner's circle at Monmouth “will be limited to no more than four people (jockey, groom, trainer and an additional stable hand if necessary). No owners will be permitted in the winner's circle. Everyone in the winner's circle must have face covering.”

Beatty's understanding of the house rule had been that it was the number – four people – that was important, not what those people's jobs were, which is why he didn't think he was doing anything wrong.

Meanwhile, Beatty points out, out-of-state riders are permitted to ride at Monmouth, though they are required to produce a negative COVID-19 test and keep their distance from others. Photos from earlier in the meet show groups of as many as five people in winner's circle shots that feature the winning horse. In other images that seem to be taken after the horse has left the winner's circle, as many as seven people can be seen without masks over their noses or mouths, arms slung over each other. For Beatty, these things raise questions about how stringent protocols really are, and how evenly they're being applied.

“It kind of seems like I'm a 28-year-old guy who's having a little bit of success, getting a little lucky and they don't really like that,” Beatty. “It seems like I'm getting attacked. They want me to be the example, but Dennis Drazin walks around the track without a mask on. That's what the example should be. The majority of people who work there, they're walking around with their masks on their chin.

“I respect the rules. I understand that they have rules in place for a reason. I just don't feel I should be made an example of when there's other people breaking the rules and just getting warnings.”

Drazin confirms that the track's action against Beatty is the first taken against an owner for violating COVID-19 protocols. He also said that he's unaware of other incidents of owners violating protocol, but that other licensees have received warnings for violations, including not having their masks pulled up over their mouth or nose.

“I spend a significant amount of my time every day trying to walk around and talk nicely to people to get them to put their masks on,” said Drazin. “I would tell you this – the governor expects us to enforce these rules. What ends up happening is if a jockey gets off a horse and he's walking back to the jocks' room, and the owners or fans approach the jockey and start to hug him and they don't have masks on, with social media these days, that goes wild. And then we get calls from people saying we're not enforcing the rules.

“I'm the chairman of the track. I have not been in the winner's circle. I was not in the paddock on Haskell Day. Could I have gone in? I did not do that because I consider myself an owner also and I apply all the rules to myself.”

Beatty was offered the opportunity to present his case at a hearing conducted by Monmouth. When COVID-19 protocols were first put in place, Drazin communicated with the New Jersey Racing Commission, asking whether they wanted to adjudicate COVID protocol violations or whether that should be left up to the track. He says the commission told him it was fine for Monmouth to handle those incidents themselves and if they felt they couldn't, track management could refer rule breakers on. At first, Beatty said, he was interested in the opportunity, but backed off when Monmouth management suggested the other partners in Horologist, who were not present for her race in the Molly Pitcher, may be brought into the proceeding, fearing they would face punishment also.

Drazin said he didn't have any reason to believe those owners — who were not present that day — would face sanctions themselves.

“In my view, the other owners were blameless,” said Drazin.

Drazin suspects the reason Beatty backed off on the idea of a hearing was that he was told the track was prepared to present evidence showing he had been on the backstretch the same day, also in violation of the track's COVID rules. Beatty said he had permission from the guard on duty to pop in and deliver tips to the van driver and groom; Drazin said it shouldn't matter what the guard said – signage clearly indicated he shouldn't have been there.

Beatty also raises questions about the motives of Drazin and director of racing John Heims in delivering this ban from the track property. Drazin represented Vincent Annarella's Holly Crest Farm in a dispute between Annarella and Beatty over the ownership of Cinderella Time, the dam of Horologist.

Both Beatty and Drazin agree on a few facts: Holly Crest owned homebred Cinderella Time during her racing career. When an injury ended her career, trainer John Mazza (who was also farm manager for Holly Cress and employed by Beatty as a trainer) thought Beatty might be interested in her and got in touch.

Beatty said Annarella gave him the mare, who Beatty boarded at Holly Crest, and apparently had no issue with the arrangement until Horologist started winning races. Then, Beatty said, Annarella started claiming he didn't know Beatty had been breeding the mare and registering himself as breeder and owner of the foals.

Drazin, who said he has known Annarella some 40 years, began calling Beatty on Annarella's behalf, relaying his desire to have the mare back, and threatening a civil lawsuit. Drazin said Mazza was never authorized to give the horse away, and Annarella only found out Beatty thought he was her owner when he saw Horologist pop up in race entries.

“I sacrificed a lot of money every month to board that mare, to pay stud fees, to pay vet bills,” Beatty said. “I probably put close to $100,000 into her.

“He claimed he didn't remember cashing my checks every month for four years.”

Beatty claims Drazin threatened to block his entries and evict his horses from the Monmouth grounds if he didn't give up possession of Cinderella Time – a claim Drazin categorically denies.

In the end, the two sides came to an arrangement through private mediation. Cinderella Time was returned to Holly Crest, which sold her for $245,000 in foal to Twirling Candy at last year's Keeneland November auction; Holly Crest was made as the breeder of record for Horologist and her half-sister, A P Lucky, and Beatty remained as an owner on the two daughters. Drazin said Beatty was also paid back his expenses for four years of boarding the mare.

“I was called by Dennis Drazin and told that this wasn't a lawsuit I wanted to get into because I would lose,” said Beatty, who said Drazin threatened to sue Mazza also. “At that time, I didn't have a lot of money. I was a little guy in the business without much success.

“Looking back, I shouldn't have let that go, but I couldn't put John through it … It's kind of like David and Goliath and I'm David because I don't have millions and millions of dollars, I don't have 50, 60 horses on the backside keeping the track alive. It puts a really bad taste in your mouth when all this happens … the owner of the track is this guy's lawyer. How can I compete with that?”

Mazza died earlier this year at the age of 82.

Drazin said as far as he's concerned, both matters are resolved. If anything, he thinks Beatty has had things easier than he could have. If he had turned Beatty's COVID rule violations over to the racing commission, he points out, the commission could have suspended Beatty's ownership license – an action that would likely have been reciprocated by other jurisdictions, causing him more headaches. And as for the Cinderella Time case, Drazin thinks he was quite charitable.

“I think another lawyer may have encouraged them to litigate it, but Mr. Beatty called me up and he seemed like a nice young man,” recalled Drazin. “He told me he was just invested in the business, he hadn't been a long-tie owner, he didn't understand all the rules. Given he was a young man who was very enthusiastic about the business and wanted to be involved, we wanted to help him out.”

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Horologist Co-Owner Banned For Appearing In Winner’s Circle

Cameron Beatty, a co-owner of Horologist (Gemologist), has been banned from Monmouth Park for the remainder of the 2020 meet after he appeared in the winner’s circle following her win in the June 18 GIII Molly Pitcher S. Because of the coronavirus, Monmouth is not allowing owners in the winner’s circle or in the paddock.

Dennis Drazin, who heads the management team that runs Monmouth, said that, for now, the suspension means only that Beatty is not allowed on the premises. However, he said further disciplinary actions could be taken after reviewing whether or not Beatty has also been violating rules by going on the backstretch.

“We have rules and they have to be followed,” Drazin said. “We have strict COVID-19 protocols that we submitted to the state and they submitted them to the department of health and they were signed off on by the racing commission and the governor’s office. We were told we need to enforce our rules. Here you have an owner that decided to disregard the rules. He admits he disregarded the rules. It’s not like he says he didn’t know. He deliberately violated the rules.”

Beatty tells a different story, that he was not aware of the rules and was simply caught up in the moment after the horse he owns along with Parkland Thoroughbreds, Medallion Racing and Abbondanza Racing, LLC, won an important race.

“[Monmouth Racing Secretary] John Heims told me that I put the sport of horse racing in New Jersey at risk,” Beatty said. “I didn’t intend to do that at all. I went down to the area of the winner’s circle and I was excited. They told me grab your horse and bring her into winner’s circle and I did that.”

Drazin was not sympathetic.

“He’s gone out he posted things on social media and seems to be blaming everyone but himself,” he said. “But he’s the one who violated the rules.”

Beatty, 28, acknowledges that he should have read up on the protocols in place at Monmouth, which are posted on the track’s website, but insisted he did not intentionally break any rules.

“I’m not the type of person who starts trouble or ever gets into trouble or breaks a rule,” he said. “I try to do the right thing when no one is looking.”

Beatty and Drazin also disagree on how the process unfolded. Beatty said he asked Heims for a hearing and that Heims told him not to bother because there was no chance the suspension would be overturned. Drazin says that Beatty declined to have a hearing.

“We first wrote to him and offered him an opportunity to come in and discuss it,” Drazin said. “He elected not to. He admitted he violated our rules and told John Heims to do what he had to do.”

“They said I wanted no part of a discussion or wanted no part of a hearing and that is completely false,” Beatty said. “It makes me sick to my stomach because Dennis Drazin is someone with a ton of authority and I’m just a little guy here. I’m trying to do right thing for the industry and Jersey-bred racing, which is one of the reasons we brought Horologist back, to give a Jersey-bred a chance to win a graded stakes. I want a hearing. I want to give my side of the story.”

Drazin said that, in the aftermath of the incident, he heard from several people that Beatty had been violating additional rules by sneaking onto the Monmouth backstretch, which could lead to additional sanctions.

“We’ve told him he’s not allowed here for the balance of the 2020 meet,” Drazin said. “Since he started posting things on social media, I have gotten a number of calls suggesting he’s been violating our rules and sneaking on to the backside. I don’t know if that is accurate or not. We’re going to have to have a hearing on that.”

Drazin added that an additional penalty could be that Beatty will not be allowed to race anymore horses during the meet.

Beatty said that because of the incident, Horologist is no longer being considered for the Aug. 30 Charles B. Hesse III H. for New Jersey breds.

“Me and my partners agreed after this happened that we’re not going to run here her in the Hesse,” he said. “This has put a bad taste in my mouth and makes me take a step back. I’m a big believer that the punishment should fit the crime. I didn’t commit a crime. It was just me, the jockey and the horse in the winner’s circle.”

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