Monmouth is Open, but the Virus is Never Far Away

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Marty Kuczynski didn't mind that he had to have his temperature taken before being allowed to get into Monmouth Park Sunday or that he was required to wear a mask. Kuczynski had missed Monmouth Park and he was glad to be back.

“We wanted to get out of the house,” said Kuczynski, who was accompanied by five family members. “We wanted to do something. We've been quarantining in and trying to keep as safe as we could. Monmouth Park is such a beautiful place and we love coming down here. The only problem is every time I go there, I give them all my money.”

That the popular Jersey Shore track was back was welcome news, not just for the racing industry and horsemen, but also for Monmouth's loyal fans.

But it was clear from the moment you walked into the building that this was a very different Monmouth Park. Patrons were required to wear masks. No owners were allowed in the paddock or the winner's circle. Fans were not allowed to bring in outside food or drink, which meant there was no way to have a picnic in the very popular picnic area. Only a handful of concession stands were open and tellers and bettors were separated by plexiglass.

With the many protocols in place and the limits on the number of people who can attend the races, all signs showed that COVID-19 is still a force that horse racing can fight but cannot conquer.

One quick look around the grandstand told the story. The crowd was sparse, a lot smaller than what would have been a normal attendance on a summer Sunday afternoon. And there was a distinct lack of energy in the building. That may have something to do with the types of fans who showed up. They skewed a little bit older and were there for the horse racing. With no outside food or drink allowed in the building, the party crowd was nowhere to be found.

Just a few days ago, Monmouth was hopeful that as many as 15,000 people would be allowed to attend a card. That all changed Friday when the office of Governor Phil Murphy told track officials there would be strict limitations on the size of the crowd. Though the dos and don'ts were complicated, Monmouth estimated that they would only be allowed to let somewhere between 2,100 to 3,000 people into the track.

It's impossible to say how many people were there Sunday. There was no admission fee and, therefore, no way to tell what the crowd was. If the crowd is supposed to be 3,000 or less and it was actually 3,001 or even 5,000, who would know the difference?

Monmouth officials must have estimated the crowd was below the state's restrictions as no late arrivals were being turned away. For now, that's not a big problem, but it may be on Haskell day.

It was also clear that some of the state's guidelines were impossible to enforce. The state wanted to limit attendance to the main grandstand to 500. But how do you keep count and how can you stop some from going into the grandstand and not others? When the races were being run, the crowd in the grandstand appeared to be more than 500.

A bigger problem for Monmouth may be the masks. Employees, horsemen and jockeys were all adhering to the rules. But there were many patrons walking around without them, particularly in the areas of the track that were more remote, and the problem seemed to get worse as the afternoon went on. At one point in the day, there were 25 people total settled in among three adjoining sections of seats in the grandstand and only two were wearing masks. There didn't appear to be anyone making an attempt to enforce the mask rule.

Should pictures of Monmouth fans walking around without masks land on Murphy's desk that could mean the end of the meet.

The next big test for Monmouth will come July 18, the day of the GI Haskell S. The Haskell drew 60,000 people in 2015 when American Pharoah showed up and, in a more normal year, the crowd is about 35,000. It's highly unlikely that 35,000 people will want to attend the race this year, but it's also likely that the demand for admission and seats will be more than 3,000. If the demand for entrance into the track is higher than the supply, what will Monmouth do?

You can put everything down as a work in progress, a track trying to figure out what it can and can't do during these most unusual times. Monmouth is back, but try as they might, nothing is normal.