Monmouth Park Welcomes Fans Back For Live Racing

As restrictions are being eased, more and more places are opening. While nothing is ready to operate at full-capacity, Monmouth Park announced they were welcoming fans back for live racing for Independence Day Weekend!

Monmouth Park has been closed since March 16th, and will re-open the Monmouth Park Sportsbook by William Hill for simulcast wagering and sports betting on Thursday, July 2nd. They will kick off their 75th season of live racing on Friday, July 3rd. The park will be open at 25% capacity. They will be open from for racing from July 3rd through September 27th, which will include the traditional Haskell Day on July 18th.

I'll be interested to see how this plays out. Twenty-five percent capacity is pretty small, and Monmouth Park is big enough to make it easy to stay away from other people. We've always heard that being indoors is more dangerous than being outdoors, so getting out into the grandstand to watch some racing should be okay.

I would actually be more concerned with the behind-the-scenes parts of the park. When you're bringing in horses, they come with a full crew. You have jockeys, trainers, groomers, track staff, horse owners...all those people are going to be in relatively close quarters. Those crews also travel around the country, so there's the added worry about a horse racing in Florida or Georgia before they come to New Jersey. I know horse racing isn't the same as baseball or football, but a lot of the concerns I have with MLB or the NFL returning can be seen on a smaller scale here. Maybe this can be used as a test, and hopefully things turn out good.