When the New Meadowlands Racetrack opens its 2012 season, it will present an eight-month schedule which will include a full menu of stakes for New Jersey-sired trotters and pacers
.
“Despite all the changes at the Meadowlands, we want to assure horsemen that races for New Jersey-sired horses will continue to be a priority,” said Jeff Gural, who heads the new management team at the Meadowlands.
“We have worked with Tom Luchento of the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association and Chris Castens of the New Jersey Sire Stakes program to support a schedule that will put a premium on New Jersey-breds,” Gural noted.
The Anthony Abbatiello New Jersey Classic, with a purse estimated at $300,000, and the $125,000 estimated Thomas D’Altrui Miss New Jersey for fillies, will continue to be the premier events for New Jersey-sired three-year-old pacers on the 2012 Meadowlands schedule.
“Both of these are stakes that the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey proudly sponsors,” said SBOANJ President Tom Luchento. “They are events that have had national importance for three decades, often showcasing future divisional champions.”
The New Jersey Sire Stakes will be scheduled, relatively unchanged, in 2012. Each of the premier division categories at the Meadowlands will have two legs and a $175,000 estimated final, and the Green Acres series will be carded at Freehold.
The three tracks that Jeff Gural operates will coordinate their summer stakes schedules to avoid conflicts with the New Jersey program.
“The racing secretaries at Tioga Downs, Vernon Downs and the Meadowlands will make sure there are not conflicts among the New Jersey Sire Stakes, W.N. Reynolds, Tompkins-Geers and John W. Simpson stakes,” Gural added.
Freehold, in addition to the New Jersey Sire Stakes, will offer the NJSS-sponsored Lou Babic and Lou Babic Filly and the SBOANJ-sponsored stakes, the Charles I. Smith, Helen Smith, Harold Dancer, Marion Dancer and New Jersey Futurity.
(SBOANJ)