Monmouth Park Shifts Haskell Post Time to 8:05 p.m.

After two races conducted in brutal heat, Monmouth Park has opted for discretion and canceled the six remaining non-stakes on its 14-race July 20 TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) Day card.

Racing will resume at 6 p.m. EDT with the $150,000 Oceanport Stakes (G3T) and post time for the $1 million Haskell has been moved to 8:05 p.m.

The six stakes will be contested 25 minutes apart with the Molly Pitcher Stakes (G3), Wolf Hill Stakes, Monmouth Cup (G3), WinStar Matchmaker Stakes (G3T), and Haskell following in that order.

Races 3, 4, 6, 7, 13 and 14 were canceled as temperatures extended into the upper 90's with a heat index of roughly 110 in Oceanport, N.J.

Monmouth CEO and chairman Dennis Drazin said he made the decision to cancel the races and delay the stakes, though he expressed a belief that it was "safe" to continue. He added the anti-racing atmosphere arising out of the 30 fatalities at the recent Santa Anita Park meet prompted him to act out of caution to avoid the potential for "a national crisis" should there be any problems during the card.

"I made the call. At the end of the day, it's my responsibility to make these decisions. There is a national atmosphere in this country that we are all dealing with because of the breakdowns at Santa Anita. I made the call to be conservative in an abundance of caution knowing that by 6 p.m. the heat will go down, the (heat) index will be substantially different than it is now. The smart thing to do is to respond to what has become a crisis ... It would have created additional momentum to the crisis that already exists because of California's problems," said Drazin, who owns and breeds Thoroughbreds. "I think we could have run safely and I don't think we would have had any incidents, but God forbid we did and a horse broke down for any reason outside of the heat, we felt there could be a national crisis created by it.

"I don't think we should have canceled. We're an ocean resort. We have a breeze coming in off the ocean. We're not a hot bed like Saratoga or Delaware, but in trying to balance the right thing to do, I made a call. Some people might not like the call, but this is the call that I think was the right to do for Monmouth Park. If anyone wants to take issue with it, I'm the guy they can talk to."

Monmouth was the lone racetrack in the region that did not cancel racing in advance of Saturday. Saratoga Race Course, Delaware Park, Parx Racing, Laurel Park, and Finger Lakes opted to call off racing.

Drazin also said there was pressure stemming from the five-year $10 million annual purse subsidy Monmouth received earlier this year from the New Jersey state legislature.

"Legislators entrusted the subsidies to us and we don't want to gamble that if a horse broke down that could somehow impact that we get future funding," Drazin said. "We think the legislature certainly wants to support us, but I have a duty to the public, the legislature, and the Governor (Phil Murphy) to safe guard not just horses but jockeys and our patrons."

While speaking in the press box at Monmouth, Drazin also apologized to fans for any inconvenience.

"I apologize to everybody and the patrons who are affected and are unhappy. We have patrons who don't want to sit around and some may not want to pay for their bills for their food, I can live with that. What's important to me is the health of the horses and the jockeys and the patrons," he said.

With temperatures expected to be in the mid-90's again tomorrow, Drazin said a decision on the July 21 card would be forthcoming later in the day. He said there would be most likely be a delayed start if they decide to race.

"What's peculiar to me is that tomorrow is supposed to be worse than today and Saratoga didn't cancel tomorrow. It's strange we're all concerned with Saturday and not Sunday," Drazin said.

The noon start of the card was delayed by slightly more than 35 minutes due to the steamy weather as track officials met with interested parties, including regulators and Governor Murphy, to get everyone on board with conducting the program.

During the delay, two horses were scratched from the first race. One of them, Bells Irish Fancy, tied up in the heat.

Jockey Jose Ferrer, who rode Buff's in Love to victory, said after the first race: "It's not bad out there with the wind. I don't see why they can't continue racing."

The schedule of racing has been revised to the Oceanport Stakes at 6 p.m., Molly Pitcher at 6:25 p.m., Wolf Hill Stakes 6:53 p.m., Monmouth Cup 7:15 p.m., WinStar Matchmaker 7:40 p.m., and the Haskell at 8:05 p.m.