The 2024 Monmouth Park race meet is here, and the focus will be on daily quality racing and wagering from opening day May 11 through the end of the meet on Sept. 15. If you are not familiar with handicapping Monmouth on a day-to-day basis, there is still plenty of time to brush up on what it takes to pick winners at the Jersey Shore. Here is a brief overview for racing at the Monmouth Park summer race meet.

The 51-day Monmouth Park 2024 meet will mostly race three days a week, Friday through Sunday, plus holidays. The headline event of the meet will be the $1 million NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes on July 20. The Haskell Day card will be topped by this prestigious Grade 1 race for 3-year-olds plus four other stakes. In all, the Monmouth meet will feature 48 stakes races worth $8.05 million in purses.

For television coverage, live racing at Monmouth Park will be showcased on NYRA’s “America’s Day at the Races” airing on FOX Sports and, later in the summer, stakes action from Monmouth will be bonus coverage on NYRA’s popular “Saratoga Live” show.

The real meat and potatoes of the Monmouth Park season is the solid day-to-day racing and wagering it offers horseplayers. Perhaps more than any other track, racing at Monmouth is defined by one predominant factor: Speed. Thanks to a lightning-fast track surface, tight turns, and a relatively short stretch, Monmouth Park very well might be the most speed-conducive track in the country. If you’re betting Monmouth and you want to make money consistently, you must upgrade speed horses and downgrade closers on the main track.

Monmouth Park Top Jockeys

‘Jersey Joe’ Bravo, a Monmouth mainstay. (Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)

Expect the Monmouth jockey standings to be dominated by Paco Lopez and Joe Bravo, who own a total of 23 Monmouth meet riding titles between them. Lopez is expected to win his 11^th  career Monmouth riding title, which would be his sixth in a row and 10th in the last 11 years.

Bravo, often referred to as “Jersey Joe,” is a 13-time leading rider at Monmouth in his career. He won’t ride enough mounts to compete with Lopez for the 2024 title, but he should be expected to win at a high percentage. Lopez’s 76 winners at the 2023 meet were 31 more than second-leading jockey Samy Camacho who won 45 times. Some other jockeys in the top 10 should include Jairo Rendon, Samuel Marin, and Nik Juarez.

Monmouth Park Trainers to Bet

The 2023 leading Monmouth Park trainer by a runaway was Claudio Gonzalez, who dominated the meet with 46 winners from 198 starters for 23%. Gonzalez will be the favorite to win his third consecutive Monmouth training title in 2024 to go along with his 18 career training titles at Laurel Park and Pimlico. Gonzalez starts by far the most runners at the meet and is geared up again this year with 70 horses stabled on the grounds.

Before Gonzalez’s arrival at the Jersey shore, Kelly Breen was annually in the hunt for leading trainer. He should be in the mix this season despite a disappointing 2023 at Monmouth when he won only 16 races for 13%. Chad Brown is sending more and more horses to Monmouth, and it showed in 2023 when he was the second leading trainer with 21 wins from just 67 starters for 31%. The only other regular trainer at the meet who was in that lofty win percentage zone was Robert Falcone Jr., who was 16-for-50 (32%). Todd Pletcher is also annually a similar type of factor at Monmouth. In 2023, Pletcher’s runners went 9-for-45 (20%). Other trainers to focus your betting on at the meet include Jose Delgado (17-for-86, 20% in 2023), Greg Sacco (13-for-80, 16%), and Patrick McBurney (12-for-69, 17%).

Monmouth Main Track Winning Profile

Horses train at Monmouth prior to the 2024 meet. (Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)

The Monmouth Park dirt front-end bias is apparent at all distances on the main track where it’s important to not fall too far back off the pace. If you’re not betting a speed horse, at least try to bet a horse with tactical speed.

In sprints at 5 ½ to six furlongs, frontrunners racing on the pace or within a length of the lead at the first call won 42% of the 195 dirt sprints at the 2023 meet. Most of the remaining winners were either pressing or stalking close-up between one and four lengths off the pace. Horses in this presser/stalker category won 46% of the 195 dirt sprints run at Monmouth in 2023. If you are looking for winning closers you should probably look elsewhere, because late runners coming from four or more lengths off the pace won only 25 of the 195 dirt sprints in 2023, accounting for only 13% of the winners.

Late runners do almost as bad in Monmouth dirt routes as they do in sprints. The speed bias also applies to two turn routes, which are mostly run at 1 mile and 70 yards. At Monmouth in 2023, horses racing on or close to the lead won 39% of the track’s 122 dirt routes. Pressers/stalkers won 45% of the routes, and closers won only 19 total dirt routes at the meet for just 16%.

In terms of post position favorability in dirt sprints, middle posts 4-6 did better than inside draws in 2023, with those three posts winning 44% of the sprints versus posts 1-3 which accounted for 32% of the sprint winners. The best profile of a dirt sprint winner at Monmouth in 2023 was to be a presser/stalker breaking from posts 4-6. That small slice of horses took 42 races, accounting for wins in 22% of the 195 dirt sprints.

Post positions played a lesser role in the outcome of dirt routes in 2023 due to the fact that the average field size of a Monmouth dirt route was only 6.6 runners. Horses from inside posts 1-3 won 53 routes, which was exactly the same amount of races won by horses starting from posts 4-6. Despite much fewer starters from posts 7 and out, horses from those gates managed to win 16 dirt routes in 2023, thereby representing no statistical disadvantage.

This reality versus the perception of bad outside posts actually gives us a betting angle. Most people downgrade horses from outside posts in Monmouth dirt routes despite the fact that the stats from last year did not back that up. Astute handicappers can shop for bargain-priced overlays from outside posts in Monmouth dirt routes.

Monmouth Turf Tips and Trends

Turf racing at Monmouth Park. (Ryan Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)

Contrary to dirt routes, the average field size in Monmouth turf routes in 2023 was much better at 9.3 runners per race. And unlike in the dirt routes, the outside horses in Monmouth turf routes in 2023 were at a big disadvantage. Horses from inside and middle posts all did well, but horses breaking from posts 7 and wider won only 22 of the 115 turf routes, accounting for only 19% of the winners.

Another difference between Monmouth turf routes and dirt routes has to do with running style. Speed horses on or within a length of the lead did awful in Monmouth turf routes in 2023, winning only 23% of the races. By comparison, stalkers racing one to four lengths off the pace won 41% of the races. Closers coming from four or more lengths behind did well too – they won 36% of Monmouth’s 2023 turf routes.

In Monmouth turf sprints, the races are all about speed. Post positions are basically irrelevant but speed from any post is preferred over closers. In 65 turf sprints run at Monmouth in 2023, 33 winners raced on or close to the lead (51%), 23 winners were pressers/stalkers (35%), and only nine horses rallied from 4 or more lengths behind to win (14%).

The 2024 summer meet at Monmouth Park has arrived. The track promises fast times at the Jersey shore. Best of luck and enjoy!