Jeff Gural optimistic deal will still get done.

by Bill Finley

Story originally appeared in Thoroughbred Daily News, with additional reporting for HRU

A bill that would have extended annual purse subsidy payments made to new Jersey’s thoroughbred and standardbred tracks was vetoed Wednesday (Jan. 17) by Governor Phil Murphy. The bill called for the $20 million annual subsidy, which is split between the two breeds, to continue through 2029.

The money has already been approved for 2024. The extension was to run from 2025 through 2029.

Murphy vetoed 12 bills in all, using what is called a pocket veto. That type of veto applies only to bills sent to the governor’s desk in the final 10 days of a legislative session. If the governor does not sign such bills within seven days of the end of a session those bills are vetoed without being sent back to the Legislature.

Murphy’s decision came as a major surprise since he has largely supported racing during his time in office and the bill had overwhelming support in the Senate and Assembly. It passed the Senate by a 35-1 margin and the Assembly by a 73-0 margin.

The purse subsidy is vital to Monmouth Park and to The Meadowlands and Freehold, whose purses would plummet without the extra money and make it difficult to compete with neighboring tracks.

“If we didn’t get this money, it would be a disaster,” said Dennis Drazin, the chairman and CEO of Darby Development, the management team that operates Monmouth. “We’d either have to cut days or purses.”

Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural said he is “confident that it will all work out in the end.”

“I believe the governor remains in favor of extending the subsidies,” Gural said. “He just wants it done in a manner that is satisfactory to him.”

Drazin admits he was alarmed when first hearing news of the veto and he immediately placed a call to Murphy. Drazin said Murphy called back within 15 minutes and reassured Drazin that future purse subsidies remain very much alive.

“I spoke with him and he wholeheartedly supports the industry, but he did not feel a bill like this should get passed through a lame-duck session,” Drazin said. “He is committed to continue to work on and it get it done through the budget process. I take him at his word. He has been supportive of the industry ever since he’s been in office and he says he will get it done, just not the way it was being handled. I trust this governor. He made a commitment and I am taking him at his word. If he had said, ‘I’m vetoing it that’s it,’ we’d be having a different conversation.”