With the $1 million, Grade 1 betfair.com Haskell Invitational leading the way, Monmouth Park will offer a $3,725,000 stakes schedule for the 2017 racing season, which kicks off on Saturday, May 13.
Set for its 50th renewal on Sunday, July 30, this year’s golden anniversary Haskell will once again be sponsored by Betfair, the world’s largest Internet betting exchange, and will anchor four other graded stakes races on that day’s card: Monmouth Stakes (G2), WinStar Matchmaker (G3), Monmouth Cup (G3) and Molly Pitcher (G3).
Monmouth’s other Grade 1 Thoroughbred event, the United Nations Stakes, will be renewed for the 66th time on July 1. Other highlights of the racing season include the Salvator Mile on June 17, the betfair.com Pegasus Stakes on June 18, the Monmouth Oaks on Aug. 12 and the Philip H. Iselin Stakes on Aug. 26.
The New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival, with three stakes races on the card, will mark its 15th anniversary on Aug. 27, just one week before the racetrack hosts the HH Shk Zayad Bin Sultan Al Nayhan Cup Handicap, a first for Monmouth Park. That Grade 1 Arabian stakes, to be contested on Sept. 4, is the third leg (Diamond Jewell) of the United States Arabian Triple Jewell Series.
The entire stakes schedule is:
RUN DATE
RACE
PURSE
DIVISION
DISTANCE
CLOSING
5/13/2017
Wolf Hill
$60,000
3&Up
5F(T)
5/5/2017
5/27/2017
Red Bank (G3)
$100,000
1M(T)
5/28/2017
Blue Sparkler
F&M 3&Up
5/19/2017
6/3/2017
Eatontown (G3)
F&M3&Up
1M 1/16(T)
5/20/2017
6/10/2017
Crank It Up
F3 YO
6/2/2017
6/11/2017
Decathlon
6 F
6/17/2017
Salvator Mile (G3)
1M
6/18/2017
betfair.com Pegasus (G3)
3 YO
1M 1/16
6/4/2017
6/24/2017
Jersey Shore
6/16/2017
7/1/2017
United Nations (G1)
$300,000
1M 3/8(T)
7/2/2017
Lady's Secret
$75,000
1M 70
7/8/2017
Long Branch (L)
1M1/16
6/30/2017
7/15/2017
Boiling Springs (L)
7/7/2017
7/16/2017
Regret
7/22/2017
My Frenchman
5 1/2(T)
7/14/2017
7/29/2017
Lamplighter
7/21/2017
7/30/2017
betfair.com Haskell Inv. (G1)
$1,000,000
1M 1/8
Invitational
Monmouth Stakes (G2)
$150,000
1M 1/8(T)
WinStar Matchmaker (G3)
Monmouth Cup (G3)
Molly Pitcher (G3)
John J. Reilly Hdp NJB
8/5/2017
Colleen
F 2YO
7/28/2017
8/6/2017
Tyro
2 YO
8/12/2017
Monmouth Oaks (G3)
8/19/2017
Violet (G3)
1M (T)
8/26/2017
Philip H. Iselin (G3)
8/27/2017
NJ Breeders Hdp NJB
8/13/2017
Charles Hesse III Hdp NJB
Eleven North Hdp NJB
9/2/2017
Sorority
9/3/2017
Sapling (L)
9/4/2017
HH Shk Zayad Bin Sultan Nayhan Cup Hdp (G1)
$50,000
4&Up