Five-Year, $20m Annual Purse Subsidy Sails Through NJ Legislature

Both houses of the New Jersey Legislature on Friday unanimously extended a five-year package that will grant $20 million in annual purse subsidies to the state's Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries.

If signed by Governor Phil Murphy as expected, the bill will infuse $10 million into Monmouth Park's purses every year through 2029.

The June 28 vote was 76-0 in the Assembly and 40-0 in the Senate.

“We're extremely happy that the Legislature again decided to help support the racing and breeding industries in New Jersey,” said Dennis Drazin, the chairman and CEO of Darby Development, the management team that operates Monmouth.

“We're hopeful that Gov. Murphy, who's always been supportive of us and had our back, will sign the bill,” Drazin told TDN. “This will be a big boost for purses, and it's important to the survival of the industry that this bill gets done.

“This will be a subsidy that will take us through 2029,” Drazin said. “When breeders come to breed in our state, the horses get bred this year, they don't foal until next year, and they don't get to the races for a few years. So in order to encourage the breeding industry in the state, [breeders] have to know there's a future, and that [the subsidy] is not going to expire in a year.

“So this does a lot for the breeding industry, which in turn means a lot of jobs in New Jersey and the preservation of open space,” Drazin said. “Without a breeding industry, everything gets sold for development.”

The $20 million annually comes from the state's general fund and gets divided 50/50 between the Thoroughbred and Standardbred purse accounts.

Monmouth gets 100% of the Thoroughbred money. The remaining $10 million for the harness entities gets split between the Meadowlands (60%), Freehold Raceway (16%), New Jersey Sire Stakes purses (12%) and bonuses for New Jersey-sired horses and Standardbred breeder awards purses (6% each).

On the Thoroughbred side, Drazin underscored that the money is earmarked for “All purses. None of the money goes to operations. It all goes to purses.”

A similar subsidy had been in effect since 2019.

Back in January, Murphy had vetoed the renewal of that five-year package.

But circumstances were different five months ago: Murphy, at that time, used what is known as a “pocket veto” to nix the purse subsidy package, plus 11 other unrelated bills that also had broad legislative support, just before the end of the legislative session.

The governor's stated reason at that time, Drazin told TDN on Jan. 18, 2024, was because the legislative session was expiring, “and he did not feel a bill like this should get passed through a lame-duck session.”