New Jersey horsemen are working with Monmouth Park on a bid for the track to secure the 2013 Breeders' Cup World Championships and would not make an issue out of the Breeders' Cup medication policy.
John Forbes, president of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, said June 25 it is too early in the process between Monmouth and Breeders' Cup to know what the organization would want from the track and horsemen should Monmouth be selected as host track. But Forbes said the Breeders' Cup plans to have all race-day medication eliminated for the 2013 championships would not be problematic for horsemen.
Under the Breeders' Cup medication policy, race-day medication will be banned in all 2-year-old races for the 2012 event at Santa Anita Park, with the full ban to take effect the following year.
"We would like to have the Breeders' Cup come back to Monmouth," Forbes said. "We are not aware of any specifics the Breeders' Cup would ask us to do to accommodate their needs. But we would be willing to do what it takes to have Breeders' Cup come to Monmouth.
"We understand that Breeders' Cup has an issue with how they want to handle medication. We are perfectly willing to work with them to help them accomplish their goal."
Forbes said it is too early to say how much consideration Breeders' Cup is giving to the Monmouth Park bid to host the championships for a second time.
"We know the Breeders' Cup board takes a lot of things into consideration before they choose a host," Forbes said. "We really don’t want to be presumptive. We hope we are in the running. We pitched it and we hope to hear that Monmouth would be chosen to host the Breeders' Cup."
When Monmouth hosted the first World Championshps under the two-day format in 2007, the track was deluged with a monsoon on Friday and heavy rains for the Saturday card. Attendance totaled 69,584, with all-sources wagering $147,227,784 for the two days.
Monmouth is unique among North American tracks in that it is now being leased by the state to the horsemen for the next five years. Previously operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, Monmouth is now being managed by Darby Development on behalf of the horsemen.
"Management and horsemen have a terrific relationship here, and we are not going to fight with each other," Forbes said. "We are of like mind on many issues, including medication."
Breeders' Cup spokesman Jim Gluckson said the organization’s policy is not to discuss host venues until the selection process has been completed, and that he could not provide a timetable for when the decision will be made.