Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Panel Advises Christie on Monmouth Future

February 14, 2010

As Gov. Chris Christie was anointing his own panel to advise him about the future of horse racing at the state's four tracks, former state Sen. John O. Bennett was reaching his own conclusion about the controversial issue.

"We've got to get out front on this," said Bennett, borough attorney, to Mayor Michael J. Mahon. "There is too much at risk," Bennett told Mahon, watching the mayor's unusual reaction.

"He started laughing," Bennett recalled.

"Funny you should mention that," Mahon said he told Bennett. "I'm appointing a task force and I need you on it."

The Oceanport Task Force on Monmouth Park was born amid concerns over whether Christie would understand the borough's potential exposure: as home to the racetrack for decades, could it sustain continuing downturns in the industry, particularly so near the closure of Fort Monmouth?

Unlike the army base — which is scheduled to close in 2011, dealing Oceanport a crushing economic blow — Monmouth Park is a borough taxpayer and is, in fact, its largest single taxpayer.

"It is going to be difficult to take the hit of losing Fort Monmouth, but I couldn't imagine something happening to Monmouth Park simultaneously. And this is what this committee is about, trying to prevent something (unspeakable) from happening, if at all possible," said Councilman Gerald "Jay" Briscione, who will co-chair the task force with Mahon.

"Obviously, they are both very complex situations, and it feels like they are not hearing our voices," said Briscione. whose task force could re-examine whether night racing or "twilight" racing would be good for Oceanport and Monmouth Park.

Task force member David Gruskos, a race horse owner himself who has worked at Monmouth Park in various capacities since he was 12, is 49 now and self-employed. He is coming to the table prepared to recommend changes. The status quo isn't working, say several task force members.

"If something is losing money, you have to make a dramatic change," he said. "I own a business and when something is wrong, you make a change. You just don't talk about it for years, because it affects so many lives."

Although he says helping Monmouth Park succeed is about more than money, "at the end of the day, its success is the town's success."

Gruskos favors reducing the racing schedule at Monmouth to build up the purses and to increase the value of the racetrack's signal as it is transmitted to other locations.

"Monmouth Park does not get a high value for its signal," said Gruskos. "To increase it, you have to have higher quality racing and more horses," he said.

"The only way to accomplish this is through higher purses and the only way to get higher purses on the existing subsidies is to have fewer racing days," he said.

A 50-day Monmouth Park season could increase revenue about 40 percent, which Gruskos estimated would be an additional $6 to $10 million.

"These profits are not made by the guy coming in and putting down a $2 bet," said Gruskos. "You are giving them a better product so you will see higher attendance on the days you are open."

Some answers already are set forth in the reports written by other experts over the years: The state needs to authorize the placement of slot machines at racinos in much the same way the newly opened Philadelphia Park in Bensalem, Pa., is drawing both horse-racing fans to its track and bettors to some 3,300 slots and e-tables at opulent facilities indoors, say proponents of the measure.

"We should have had the jump on this situation because we have a mature casino industry but all around us, in New York, West Virginia, Maryland, all have passed slot legislation," said Briscione. "It is a very dire situation" for this state, where horse racing struggles, and newer technology that could bring bettors back to the track is being opposed by powerful lobbying forces.

Right now, Atlantic City subsidizes horse-racing purses by $30 million annually, which is set to expire at the end of the year. Not so in other states.

"Their purses keep increasing, increasing and increasing," said Briscione of Philadelphia Park, "and after Dec. 31, we are without a permanent purse-funding mechanism. . . . Atlantic City takes the position it is against slots at race tracks and the racing industry takes the position that it would be hard to survive without them."

Briscione notes that Monmouth Park's back stretch employs hundreds of people who live and shop locally for nine months of the year, and says that 10,000 slot machines at The Meadowlands could generate $1 billion annually, enough to restore horse racing.

Still, slots are not a "panacea," said Briscione.

Joining Mahon, Briscione, Bennett and Gruskos on the task force are local residents Joe Marinaro and Alfred DeSantis Sr., who remembers the track before the 1986 state takeover.

The appointment of members from the Building and Construction Trades Council of Monmouth County, representing labor, and the New Jersey Thorough Horsemen's Association Inc., representing the racehorse owners, are pending.

Mahon's task force will examine the racetrack as it relates to the region's businesses, its historical significance, its role as a seasonal destination and employer, its importance to the construction industry and its impact on storm-water management.

The task force also will explore the track's potential future role as a location and host of concerts and festivals and other dual uses. Last year, young people attended the Warped Tour as a slightly older crowd simultaneously took in horse racing, with neither one complaining about the presence of the other. The Warped Tour 2010 pulls up to Monmouth Park July 18, according to its Web site.

"Monmouth Park did well, profiting from that relationship for hosting the event," said Mahon. "There was minimal impact on racing attendance. It seemed to be something that drew few complaints from residents as far as noise or anything like that so we think it is something to build on."

Mahon sees the track as home to wider entertainment uses, possible as host to a House of Blues or as a hotel attached to the track facilities, using The Prudential Center in Newark as an example.

Borough officials also want to continue to expand Monmouth Park's involvement in nonracing cultural events. "The more community-minded venues that are there, the better," Gruskos said.

"At the end of the day, our new governor will hopefully lessen the restrictions to operate small business ventures there," he said of Monmouth Park.

Meanwhile, Christie also announced his own commission to study horse racing and the state's sports and entertainment industries. That panel is looking at overall projects at the Meadowlands, including the unfinished Xanadu retail and entertainment complex, which Gruskos said could easily be converted into a racino to support horse racing farther south.

"I'm all for slot machines. I am for them 1,000 percent," Gruskos said. "Every state surrounding us has them. And I understand that Xanadu may be very ugly from the outside but once you step inside, it is spectacular."

Christie's new commission will consider comments from former Gov. Jon S. Corzine's horse racing commission.

Although the borough is being shut out of Christie's team and was shut out by Corzine, officials continue to hold out hope that state big wigs will listen to the locals.

"For whatever reason, we've been left out of that and we need to be involved as a community so we can advocate for the community and for Monmouth Park," Mahon said. "This is the start."