A sport worth saving

Few things have infuriated me lately as did the callous editorial published by the Newark Star-Ledger on January 15, entitled “It’s Like Beating a Dead Horse.”  To read it, here's the link: http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2011/01/its_like_beating_a_dead_horse.html

In this editorial, New Jersey’s largest newspaper calls for Gov. Chris Christie to “end the handouts” to the state’s horse racing industry, stating it has “siphoned more than $215 million in taxpayer money and casino subsidies over the past six years.”

The Star-Ledger, which for decades covered both thoroughbred and harness racing extensively, as well as accepted millions of dollars in advertising from state racetracks, called racing “the state’s welfare sport,” as well as “the dying sport on public life support,” in its editorial.

If we could, we’d like to sit the editorial board of the Star-Ledger down and give them a lesson in the proud history of horse racing in New Jersey, a sport which still has great appeal, given the results of Monmouth Park’s “elite meet” this past summer.  And what better way to show the importance of racing and breeding in the state than to just take a look at the past.

We did some digging around in the files recently, and came across a rare booklet called “Five Years of Racing in New Jersey,” by Marshall Bainbridge, Jr., and published at the behest of the Garden State Racing Association in 1947.

The booklet chronicles the spectacular growth of the sport in the five years since Garden State Park opened in 1942, as well as some statistics about Monmouth Park and Atlantic City, which both opened in 1946.

“Five years of racing in New Jersey have shown a constantly growing public interest in the sport, an annual increase in tax revenues to the State, three fine tracks for running races where only one existed the first year and a sponsorship which has placed racing in the Garden State on a par with the best in the country,” it states.

In 1942, its first year of operation, Garden State Park had an average daily attendance of 8,977, which quickly grew to 11,447 in 1943, and 13,493 in 1944. In 1945, as World War II came to an end, Garden State’s average daily attendance was 18,360 for 50 days of racing.

Here are some photos from the booklet which show the crowds that packed Garden State Park on a daily basis:

They were standing elbow-to-elbow back in 1945.

Crowds stream from the trains into Garden State Park's grandstand.

The parking lot at Garden State Park was jammed beyond belief, with many cars bearing Pennsylvania license plates.

Perhaps most poignant in this little booklet are the words of the State Racing Commission in a 1947 report to N. J. Gov. Walter E. Edge:

“The racing season of 1946 brought to New Jersey some of the best racing in the East. Its two new tracks increased the State’s revenue beyond expectation. Popularity of this sport is clearly indicated by the fact that in New Jersey alone, one and one-half million people passed through the turnstiles during the year.


“In accepting the mandate of the people, the State became a partner in racing and will profit or lose according to the attitude with which the industry is surveyed. Because the investment in this industry, new to New Jersey, represents many millions of dollar, every effort must be exerted to afford it the protection and supervision it requires.

“It must be remembered that purses to horsemen must be maintained if we desire to conduct other than mediocre racing; improvements must be made to the plants if we are interested in progress, and breeders and owners must be encouraged if they are to survive.”

While more than 70 years have passed since these words were written, there are many people in New Jersey who still feel that the sport is worth saving.  Will the daily crowds ever be as large as what is pictured above?  There is no doubt that they are gone forever, as casinos and the lottery have siphoned off the dollars once reserved for pari-mutuel gambling.  But surely there can be a better solution for New Jersey's thoroughbred and standardbred industires than to just pull the plug, as the Star-Ledger's editorial suggests.  Let's hope that the current Governor does not heed this editorial's call.