New Jersey’s Freehold Raceway will be closing its doors for good on December 28 (Mr. Matté CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Freehold Raceway was thought to be immortal. It’s the oldest horse racing track in the United States, racing having taken place there since the early 1800s. However, time is finally running out on Freehold. The track will be closing its doors for good later this year.

Owners of the track are citing unsustainable operating costs as the reason for the closure. Freehold will shutter its doors on December 28. It’s the third race track to shut down in the Garden State since 2001. Garden State Park in Cherry Hill closed down in 2001. That track had been in operation for 58 years. Atlantic City Race Course in Mays Landing brought a halt to racing activity in January of 2016.

Has the advent of widespread online sports betting in the state of New Jersey played a role in the demise of this venerable track? Perhaps. Certainly, there are many more people placing wagers through sportsbooks for US players than there are those people who instead are opting to bet on horse racing. 

No Sports Betting At Freehold

While The Meadowlands has enjoyed a huge uptick in overall wagering handle since adding a retail sportsbook on site, as well as an online partnership with sports betting giant FanDuel, there’s no longer such a partnership arrangement in place at Freehold.

Today, you will only find the traditional horse racing betting options at Freehold. You can place wagers on their live racing product, or you can opt to wager on simulcasting. That is betting on live racing from other venues that is shown live via satellite to Freehold patrons. They also offer off-track wagering at sites elsewhere in the state, as well as phone and internet betting through licensed advance deposit wagering sites across the USA.

That the sports betting partnership formed with online sports betting sites by Freehold was brought to a halt easier this year is somewhat surprising. In 1999, the track was purchased for $46 million by a group that includes casino and sports betting powerhouse Penn National Gaming and Greenwood Racing, which operates the Parx online casino. Both of the online sports betting products associated with those companies – ESPN Bet for Penn National and betParx for Greenwood Racing – were switching earlier this year to partner with other sites. ESPN Bet is now paired with Resorts Atlantic City, while betParx gets its internet skin from Harrah’s.

Freehold discontinued its online sports betting presence on the eve of the 2024 NFL season, which seemed to be a baffling decision, or one made perhaps in anticipation of the impending doom of the track. 

“Freehold Raceway had their best year to date with $30,289,021 (wagered), with two of their best months coming during the strong NFL months of November and December.” Why throw the baby out with the bathwater? Attempts to get a statement from Penn Entertainment proved unsuccessful,” John Berry wrote on Harness Link.

Without a sports betting presence, attendance dwindled at Freehold’s races. Track operators could see no possibility of making their product sustainable going forward.

“This was an extremely difficult decision, especially given the historical importance of Freehold Raceway to the local community and the New Jersey horse racing industry,” Freehold general manager Howard Bruno said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the operations of the racetrack cannot continue under existing conditions, and we do not see a plausible way forward.”

Meadowlands Finding Solutions

Freehold need only look across the state to The Meadowlands to witness how that track has utilized the windfall from sports betting to boost their racing product. How much has sports betting meant to the continued viability of the track’s horse racing operation? Jason Settlemoir, general manager and chief operating officer of The Meadowlands, pulled no punches in answering that question.

“Without sports betting, we’re probably not having this conversation,” Settlemoir told Harness Racing Update. The track gets an undisclosed percentage of the sports betting handle, which goes to help offset operating costs and to also boost the purse structure for live racing. 

Make no mistake, though. This isn’t a two-way street. While people have certainly gravitated to betting on sports since it was legalized in New Jersey, there’s been little in the way of a spinoff effect that’s leading to an increase in wagering on the horses.

“We’ve lost some bettors to sports betting, particularly among our younger customers,” Settlemoir admitted. That ship really isn’t sailing in the other direction. Those drawn to the race tracks to bet on sports generally aren’t also betting on the horses.

Freehold’s Rich History

There’s been live harness racing at Freehold Raceway since 1830 (Photo courtesy Pixabay.com)

Definitely the major player in both New Jersey and US harness racing, The Meadowlands remains a mere child in terms of age when compared to Freehold. The Meadowlands racetrack first opened for business in 1976.

By contrast, racing began at Freehold in 1830. By the 1850s, the half mile track in Monmouth Country was considered to be the center of the universe in terms of US harness racing. Years ago, it was given the distinction of being cited as a historical landmark.

The track pre-dates the Civil War. It survived a fire that destroyed the main facility in 1984. Nothing, it seemed, could bring Freehold to its knees.

However, those who oversee the horsepeople’s side of the industry appeared to believe that this day was a long time coming. The track’s operators were allowing the facility to steadily decay.

“The SBOANJ has been working extensively with Freehold Raceway’s general management for the last few years to rectify the establishment’s existing conditions, unfortunately to no avail,” the Standardbred Breeders Association of New Jersey said in a statement following the announcement of Freehold’s closing.

Local politicians were equally flummoxed by the sudden announcement of the track’s closure.

“We’re blindsided here,” Freehold Borough Mayor Kevin Kane told the Paulick Report. “We’ve not had contact with them about this. We tried to do things in the past, different stuff, contacted Howard Bruno and people in the track to do things, and they really expressed no interest in promoting it. They haven’t done anything, in my opinion.”