The draw for the opening-night card at the Meadowlands Racetrack will be delayed with the entry box remaining open until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday) morning due to an extreme shortage of entries in all classes.
The Fall Final Four stakes did not draw enough entries in any of the four divisions to require eliminations, and those races will now all go directly to the finals on November 30.
Left to fill the card with predominately overnight races, the number of entries came up woefully short of what is needed to put on any semblance of a program, let alone the kind of race card worthy of launching the new grandstand.
“I’m extremely disappointed at the lack of support by the trainers on such an important night,” said Jeff Gural. “We are spending upwards of $90 million on a project to try and breathe some life in the sport and we get half the entries we need to launch what we’re representing to be a new beginning. What kind of message are we sending when there is so little regard for what is probably the biggest thing to happen in a generation?”
“It’s also frustrating that we chose this date (November 23) to open due in part to Pocono’s live racing being concluded the week before. At the last minute they then added another weekend onto their season in direct competition to our open, which is costing us horses.”
"We have a promotion opening night where if you could pick the winner of all 13 races you would win a million dollars and right now we only have enough horses for four races. I hope the industry will step up and not embarrass all of us on this critical start to what I hope is a successful effort to market the sport to new and younger customers," Gural continued.
Entries will be accepted for all overnight classes until 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 20. Qualifying entries for the 6:00 p.m. preview card on Thursday, November 21 will also be taken until that time. Call the racing office at 877-782-2537 with entries for both.
(Meadowlands)
Classes Added for Meadowlands Saturday Draw
Horsemen have responded with their support in the entry box at the Meadowlands and the picture for Saturday's grand opening now looks less grim. To get to the advertised number of races, the 13 that are needed to accommodate the $1-million grand prize, it will be necessary to add two more classes.
The race office will now accept entries for C-2 pacers to race for a purse of $9,000 and a pace for two, three and four-year-olds that are NW of 2 pari-mutuel races or $15,000 in lifetime earnings for a $12,500 purse in addition to the C-1 class (purse $11,000) that was added earlier today.
The existing classes that are still short horses are as follows:
A-1, A-2, B-1, B-1 for 3YO and B-2.
"I received several calls of support from the horsemen and I want to apologize if I came on too strong but a lot of work has gone into the New Meadowlands and not having enough horses on opening night is clearly frustrating," said Jeff Gural. "Obviously we anticipated that we would have some eliminations for the two-year-old races and that did not happen."
Saturday's draw will be conducted tomorrow (Wednesday) and the box will be open from 7:30 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. Please call your entries for both the existing and added classes in to 877-782-2537.
(Meadowlands)
While full marks should be
While full marks should be given to Mr Gural for his Meadowlands accomplishment, he is looking in the wrong direction when he points at Pocono as taking horses from the Meadowlands. A key reason is a lot closer, Yonkers with much better purses!!
Mr Gural put his money where
Mr Gural put his money where his heart and mouth are and invested 90mill into the game.
Horseman didn't, and in a show of "loyalty" went where slot revenue is. Is this shocking?
In support of a guy that has it right, good racing, good pools, I will only bet Meadowland standardbred.
$4000 guaranteed win4 pools where two 3-5 shots win everyday, no thanks.
Just read this article and I
Just read this article and I am shocked and saddened at the lack of support for perhaps the most important person and event to happen to harness racing in many years if not ever. Mr Gural has a lifetime passion for harness racing, he salvaged Tioga Downs, reinvigorated Vernon Downs, supported the yearling sales and trainers by spending his money on high end colts and fillies and now has stepped up to the plate with effort, vision, time and money to not only save the Meadowlands but position and race it as a winner on the front end.
It's certain he does not need to do this and it's almost as certain that without his efforts the Meadowlands would not exist as a harness racetrack today.
Horse people, get your head out of the sand and support him.
If you do not do this, don't whine if he pulls the plug.
We are, and always have been, the masters of our own destiny, lets put on the very best racing and show him much we appreciate his efforts.
Owners and trainers unite and support Mr. Gural, not for one night but for the season and seasons to come. Showcase your horses and our sport to the world by racing the very best at the very best on what should one of the best nights ever.
"PUT YOUR HORSES IN THE BOX, BE PROUD, PUT ON A SHOW."
I will say Im disappointed at
I will say Im disappointed at the lack of support Mr Gural is receiving from the east coast owners and trainers.He has stepped up in a huge way to breathe some new life into the industry.....to me its just unreal!!
Mr. Gural has stepped up to
Mr. Gural has stepped up to the plate in a big way to keep the Big M alive. It is the industry's marquee racetrack and one of the few harness tracks that has enough of a handle to keep big players interested but many seem have no appreciation for that. The industry as a whole lacks vision. If the big players have no place to play the handle over the course of time will all but disappear and when that happens the slot revenue the horse people are now enjoying in the states will be taken away from them. Mr.Gural is one of the few in the industry that understands the gambling base must be re-built if the game is going to survive long term. He has spoken about the importance of reduced takeout and other measures that are needed to re-build the gambling base but sadly he is one of a very few that both sees and understands why the gambling base has to grow for the game to survive.