Though the specifics of the Monmouth Park racing schedule for 2012 are undecided, Atlantic City Race Course will offer the customary six days of all turf racing this spring.
ACRC president Maureen Gallagher Bugdon said Jan. 4 the southern New Jersey racetrack was awarded April 27-29 and May 1-3 by the New Jersey Racing Commission.
Under that schedule Greenwood Racing-owned Atlantic City will race Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; be dark Monday; and then race Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The 2012 calendar at Parx Racing, the Pennsylvania track also owned by Greenwood, indicates Parx won’t offer live racing when ACRC is open.
Purses are expected to be comparable with those of last year, when an average of $132,550 was paid per day. That figure was up 5.95% from $125,099 in 2010.
ACRC offered 38 races last year versus 37 the previous year. Gallagher Bugdon said the track "may add a few more races" this year.
The collapse of a deal for the lease of Monmouth left the track with 141 live racing days this year as mandated by law. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, however, can race fewer days at Monmouth if both parties agree as they did in 2011.
There has been no public word of such negotiations, but it is widely believed racing 141 days at $150,000 a day in purses and perhaps no stakes would be counterproductive for New Jersey racing. Monmouth raced 71 days in 2011 for about $400,000 a day.