Freehold Raceway is closing in December.

[propro]

Racing has happened on that site for well over 100 years.  I thought it was strange when they announced their sportsbook would close in August, followed by the announcement today that they entire facility will be closed on 12/28/24.  Greenwood is one of the owners and did the same with Atlantic City when they closed that in 2015.


ustrottingnews.com/freehold-raceway-to-end-operations-on-dec-28-2024/

[1hooper]

Valuable land?

[eye123]

Almost two hundred years..........

As you can see, several other iconic tracks have fallen to development. (on this list)


Major racetracks


Freehold Raceway in Freehold, New Jersey (1830s)
Fair Grounds in New Orleans, Louisiana (1852)
Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York (1863)
Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland (1870)
Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey (1870)
Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky (1875)
Aqueduct Racetrack in the Queens, New York neighborhood of Ozone Park (1894)XXXXXX A matter of time
Yonkers Raceway in the New York City suburb of Yonkers, New York (1899)
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas (1904)
Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, just outside New York City on Long Island (1905)
Fairmount Park Racetrack in the St. Louis suburb of Collinsville, Illinois (1925)
Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida, near Miami (1925)XXXXXXX Card Room
Arlington Park in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois (1927)XXXXXXXX
Santa Anita Park in the San Gabriel Valley community of Arcadia, California, near Los Angeles (1934)
Suffolk Downs Race Track in the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of East Boston (1935)XXXXXXX
Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky (1936)
Del Mar Racetrack in the San Diego suburb of Del Mar, California (1937)
Delaware Park in Wilmington, Delaware (1937)
Hollywood Park Racetrack in Los Angeles suburb Inglewood, California (1938)XXXXXXXX
Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Florida (1939/1944)

[Badactor]

[jolyb]

Sept 19, 2024 20:23:45 GMT -5 1hooper said:

Valuable land?

Probably.  The track and grandstand are directly adjacent to US Route 9 (the primary North-South highway in that area), and the stable areas are on the other side of that highway.  The track is located very close to the center of Freehold, which is the county seat of Monmouth County.  The site could be a prime location for retail, fast food, office or medical facilities, with the access to the highway a plus. 

[1hooper]

Odds on a casino/hotel? Seems that is what PENN does.

[propro]

Sept 20, 2024 9:16:15 GMT -5 jolyb said:

Sept 19, 2024 20:23:45 GMT -5 1hooper said:

Valuable land?

Probably.  The track and grandstand are directly adjacent to US Route 9 (the primary North-South highway in that area), and the stable areas are on the other side of that highway.  The track is located very close to the center of Freehold, which is the county seat of Monmouth County.  The site could be a prime location for retail, fast food, office or medical facilities, with the access to the highway a plus. 

I'm not sure what they're looking to do with this site. While the physical track borders US 9 (route 9 to us in NJ), the region west of Freehold Borough is pretty rural and the grandstand is in a residential area.  Freehold Raceway Mall is where the stables used to be many years ago when horses actually stabled there along with a training track.  It's been a ship in only facility for probably 35 years since the mall was built.  I'm not sure how the Google Street View car got all the way in there, but you can see street view across the bridge from the day of race stables to the edge of the raceway.  The mall is pretty quiet these days and has some vacancies with most people shopping online.  I'd expect some stores to be added on the mall side if it doesn't remain a track.  I'm just not sure what would go north of Rt 9 where the track and grandstand sit outside of housing, if zoning would permit that.

The racing community would certainly love to see it remain a raceway.  Freehold is part of a pretty big "circuit" of tracks even though it's not affiliated with any of them, including the Meadowlands, Yonkers, Pocono, Harrah's Philly in Chester.  It's the cheapest out of them all, but serves a big purpose.  There are so many horses that race out of New Jersey from farms in that Central NJ area.  Since they're not stabled at a raceway, they can race anywhere.  Conditions at the bigger tracks make it difficult for a racer that's over their head to drop more than one condition at a time.  Freehold often has conditions that allow those runners to ship in and race where they fit.  You're running for less money, but the commute is within 10 miles for most and that's a lot cheaper than the commute to any of the others tracks I've named.  Friday qualifiers at Freehold are often filled with horses from those same farms that race out of town and need a qualifying time to get back to the races.  I'm certain the fastest times of the year at Fhld are consistently raced in the qualifiers.

On non-race days, there might be 50 mostly old timers playing the simulcasts in the same room where the sportsbook used to be, which is the only area open on non-race days.  1 teller and most people use the self bet machines.  The parking lot "fills up" on race days with up to a couple of hundred cars, since they're only using the one lot across the street.  The full grandstand is open on race days.  If you look at that video of the flyover, you'll see lots of cars in the "lots".  They're not used by the public anymore and are rented out to local car dealers who store their inventory there.  Considering Parx/Greenwood didn't put a cent into Atlantic City despite the locals showing up for their spring races before being unceremoniously shut in 2015, it's not a surprise Freehold wasn't upgraded at all in recent years.  I'm sure closing it has been in the plans for a while.  Since the simulcasting money is shared inequitably imo, a small track like Freehold that does most of it's live handle from off track is in a tough situation.  The sending track has the largest expenses.  Why don't they get the largest chunk of the simulcast money bet on their races?  I'll never understand why this was adopted years ago.

Hooper, you mentioned hotel and casino.  While the owners would love to go that route, NJ hasn't allowed casinos outside of Atlantic City.  That was on the ballot in 2016 and was voted down.  Even if that were to change, I'm not sure sleepy Freehold Borough is the place for that anyway.  Monmouth Park would be the spot for that action.  

If Freehold actually closes and racing ends at that site, I'm going to be sad to see it go.