New Jersey horse racing

A bill that would have extended annual purse subsidy payments made to New Jersey's Thoroughbred and Standardbred tracks was vetoed Wednesday by Gov. Phil Murphy. The bill called for the $20 million subsidy, which is split between the two breeds, to continue through 2029. The money has already been approved for 2024. The extension was to run from 2025 through 2029. Murphy vetoed 12 bills in all, using what is called a pocket veto. That type of veto applies only to bills sent to the governor's desk in the final...

Valedictorian (Temple City), a two-time graded-stakes winner in 2019, has been named New Jersey-bred Horse of the Year, champion older female and champion turf runner by the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association of New Jersey. Trained by Kelly Breen for Epic Racing, the daughter of Smart N Classy (Smart Strike) posted a 9-1 upset of the GIII Suwannee River S. last February and added Monmouth Park's GIII Eatontown S.--won by her dam in 2005--as the odds-on favorite in June while also hitting the board in the GIII Honey Fox S. and GIII...

Darby Development LLC., the operator of Monmouth Park, has entered into a 10-year agreement with the Australian firm BetMakers in which BetMakers will manage and distribute fixed-odds betting on Monmouth's races, starting at this year's meet. For now, the agreement covers only Monmouth's races and New Jersey customers, but there is the potential for other jurisdictions to take fixed-odds betting on Monmouth's races and for other tracks to reach separate agreements with BetMakers to offer fixed odds betting on their races. BetMakers CEO Todd Buckingham predicted that fixed-odds wagering will...